Elemental Lover

(from The John Poems) My lover is the wind One moment sighing a gentle caress, The next, a hardened batterer I cannot stand against. He is fire Bestowing light and warmth Then raging, consuming Leaving destruction in his wake. My lover is the ocean that soothes With eternal rhythm; He is the killer wave erasing all That stands in his way. He is the earth that nurtures And coaxes life from rock Only to tremble and shake And swallow what it has given. My lover: my architect, my destroyer.