Tempest

TEMPEST Twin limestone tors thrust up through valley floor Like isles or icebergs in a calm flat sea Deep green save where shear rock can hold no spore To spawn in fecund niche a vine or tree Midday and all is calm untroubled, still In tactile heat, all movement paused, restricted No hint of ought that might disturb our will A landscape placid, as in paint depicted But look to sky the seeds of change are sown There, signs portend a transformation near Those gentle clouds mere cumuli have grown To cumulonimbus, thrust t'ward stratosphere And therein is enormous might enclosed Stored energy, that soon must be released Unleashing primal power unopposed The laws of Nature never to be breached Now lightning flickers o'er far mountain peaks Faint thunder echoes round steep valley walls The breeze accelerates and chills to speak A warning of the fast approaching squall The charge in air: has swallows energised To move from circling low ‘tween tree and house Their flight plans now are recklessly revised To helix soaring t'ward the threatening clouds A steady light drum roll on roofs - sound train Starts gently then crescendo ends the prelude Announcing clear the now impending rain Prodigious splashes transformed to a deluge The waves of rain traverse our panorama Gauze curtains drawn by cosmic stage hand's might Relentless, recasting features as of dark drama Familiar scenes are shrouded, hid from sight Now random electric arcs flare bleak view scanned Cacophony of thunder rules all sound Awesome darkness and confusion on the land All visual anchors cast in shade spellbound But in this world each cycle must be ended Perhaps reverse events that had us unmoored The drama, soon is played out and expended Peace, light and order gradually restored Known reference points can once again be seen The twin rock peaks come clear through rain-washed air Clouds make fine-spun white wraps for hills now green We're reassured by prospects known and fair Is this chronicle an allegoric tale Of human life not granted free of strife Would we choose bland existence without travail Or fain confront the magnificent storms of life