Prayer To The Thunder God Poem by Thomas James Martin

Thunder in the morning I complain

Hoeing in the rain
I soon quit the field
Under a barn roof I gulp ice water From a Mason Jar
And minding the lightning's power (Grandma always said to stay away from Dogs and cats
(They draw the lightning down, she said)

I edge away a little from Fuzzy and Blackie,
Curled up on some dusty sacks...
I'd just as soon not hoe tobacco
Or pluck those great horned green worms either,

But I am an ancient relative of the land
Soaked in the blood of my forebears,
My Grandfather Martin Runs through me
Into the deer and hawk,
Into the lands he loved so fiercely,
He never knew his own Sullen, lonely children;
Still, the land's own Freedom,

The spring at the one tree From which we drank
Sweat pouring off us
Where the Light Falls
In the grasshopper blur of Midsummer

The lightning dances in my eyes
The thunder rattles in my ears,

O Great Spirit,
I stand in your heart
Speaking with thunder,
Strong with lightning, How do I live apart?

O Great Spirit, I stand in your heart
To be, to be,
Thunderous, Freefalling and free,

O My Grandfather,
O Great Spirit.
- Sketchbook