Storm And Peace Poem by Daniel Brick

for Anne

The air is cool after a morning thunderstorm.
For thirty minutes huge sheets of rain slammed
down on house and yard. Then rain changed
to hailstones which pummeled the roof
and drowned out even thinking in my mind.

But the fury of nature was soon spent, just
a few more big drops fell, rolled down
the side of the porch and disappeared
into the ground. Nature had completed her mission
to dispel yesterday's heat and bring us relief.

Still for the duration of the storm, I wondered,
Had I done something wrong to deserve this fury
from the sky? And I cowered in a corner of the room
until it was spent. I went to the porch and saw the sky
had cleared, its pale blue expanse restored, its yellow light

descending over me like a benediction from above.
There was nothing now to fear, and nothing pointed
to me as a guilty creature. Peace now reigned over
all the region spread before me and within my soul
an even greater calm ascended. I am free to rejoice.