A Cloud Burst In The Afternoon Poem by Gert Strydom

Birds pelt to their nests,
bees to their hives,
butterflies scatter and flutter
to find some shelter somewhere
the dogs run to their boxes,
the ginger Persian cat
stretches himself out,
looks with almost a kind of grin
at the clouds and sneaks
to the nearest tree
that has bird nests
when the rain starts to fall
from a dark sky full of flashing thunder
with first only a few big drops
and then pouring down

the neighbour's wife who were pruning flower-bushes
snipping the dead ones off
is gone,

the girls across the street
on the sidewalk
stop their hopping
and scatter to their different homes
the boys drop their bicycles on the sidewalk
dart into the large mansion
while like a river water stream down the road
washing the hop-scotch lines,
the dust and pollution away

a lightning bolt slams down
right next to the window
with a blue-white dazzling bright light
before it thunders and I can smell it.