Summer Storms

Following a day of stillness and intermittent sunlight, comes the storm. Hushed breezes, hot, humid clutching to the skies now race through the trees. Late afternoon, darkness embraces the skyline, strewn with clouds of shaded blacks and grey. Puddles of steamy vapors rise from the street. Thunder echoes in the distance with flashes of light that turn sky fluorescent green. A strange storm from east to west with scent of ocean air and images churning surf. Rolling in over house and tree lines, sky fades to night, then returns humid quiet stillness failing to quench dry ground running down landscapes. Rain comes quick and fast barely wets the plants, dissipates to atmosphere. Dark green hues mix with gray. Crashes of encroaching thunder strike nearby shaking my sense of security. The storm is at a standstill hanging overhead, trickling rain between thunder claps. They shake the ground reverberating and now loudly comes the downpour. Leaves and flower blossoms pop down and up again as gutters flood and overflow walkways. In the garden rain steams up thick, full, a blinding hazy mist. Water splashes up pounding down vegetation, creating blurred visions beneath the trees. From nothing comes cascading flow of torrential showers. No wind only rain, thunder lightning show that perches here momentarily. Unyielding flows rain, a raging stationary storm. On the roof, a rush of tapping pounding on shingles sputtering against the shaking flues. Gusts of wind stir tree branches to and fro, then subsiding, rain hesitates to fall then holds, waits and stops. Thunder fades off in the distance with hints of rumbling. Light returns and softly brightens sky leaving wet scented grasses, soft breezes and storm's end. Then, unexpectedly, just when it seemed over there's loud tapping on the roof, a sudden rush of windy rain pours down blinding vision, banging the roof and gutters. Hail the size of nickels bounce and skip from the sky, popping up and on ground and along the walkways. Wind rushes in angrily, right, left then loudly singing through the thrashing chimes, back and forth, all visibility is lost, all quiet and stillness gone leaving a puckering a kiss. A loud, emphatic kiss from storm clouds and Gulf winds drifted out to sea but now embrace land. It pounds and inundates the dry unsaturated earth to leave a mark. A long-standing impression of a summer storm, its potential threats and the power of nature, come alive with passionate kisses. 7-27-15