Again this morning
Pewter skies envelopes
My color like
A washcloth absorbing
Fresh blood leaving
Me a ghostly
Pallor of grey
Everything is muted
Like school children
Shushed by nuns
Hoping for the
Sun’s recess allowing
Glee and abandonment
Yet here I
Lay staring up
At gray grey
Much less than
Gay this day
As storms pass
And lightening sparks
Like flashlights in
Dark forests thunder
Booms like hammers
On bass drums
And then there
In the aftermath
Of nature’s artillery
Comes the sweet
Sullen rain pattering
On pavement bouncing
Like little acrobats
And if you
Listen very closely
You can even
Hear a weeeeeeee
And like a
Lagoon at rest
After a deluge
Long after the
Thunderous storming cacophony
Of unexpected change
Blows on past
Most everything once
Again dips drops
And finally dies
Decomposing down below
At the bottom
Allowing newness to
Float clearly above
And in clarity
Bright things seen
Swimming and shimmering
Darting and dancing
While the past
Settles down at
Long long last
And with my
Eyes I spy
A new day
Breaking out there
Not yet here
Canopy of clouds
Like London umbrellas
Growling and muttering
Hovering above churning
Seas washing the
Bleached beached sand
In sudsy foam
Depositing sea shells
At my feet
Which sink quickly
Like hasty relationships
And yet there
Beyond my reach
Dawn breaks through
Like a Chinese
Dragon on NewYears
Exploding bleeding red
For a moment
Then quietly gone
Just like yesterday
I do recall
One late summer
Night when the
Moon was full
And cast eerily
On Carter’s pond
Making your ripples
Dance like slowed
Almost still fireflies
As you swam
Silently except for
The jump of
A fish disturbed
Dipping my toes
Into that twilight
Feeling the tingle
Of cool water
Sending shivers upward
And wanting to
But daring not
To undress myself
And swim with
You fearing not
You but I
For you I
Knew but me
I did not
Then know me
There with you
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 