Before

Before the day of the wind,
Before it aggrandized and became a threat,
Before it swirled above me, becoming anything but vapid,
I had the sleazy, grass-topped shelter that I called home.

Before the scathing hail pounded down on the fur of my back,
Although transient and quick to go its way;
Before the water from the skies crashed through the trees above me,
I didn’t know what was ahead of me.

Before the adversity transgressed past the possibility of a small occurrence,
And it extricated itself from the obstacles holding it back;
Before equitable and salutary became far from a possibility,
I could have dug deeper, hiding from the pain.

Before the winds tore past the trees and reverberated through the land,
Sedulous in their attempt to destroy something,
I remonstrated with nature in my mind, telling it not to try,
Although its decision was already irrevocable.

Before the aura of the threats surrounded me,
And I knew of the heinous events to come;
Before the oncoming disaster was immutable,
I thought I could try to save something.

But the forces of nature’s desires made success a sinecure,
And the bizarre happenings enveloped me
As if castigating me for some unknown wrong-doing,
And I couldn’t do anything to prevent it.

Before it took everything away from me,
Filching from me all that I had to live on;
Before my home beneath the grasses was destroyed,
Along with the larger, more dense world around it,

I had a life to live and an environment to support me;
I had a beautiful land filled with everything I had ever needed;
I had a future I thought would continue on prosperously,
And a tomorrow to look forward to.

But now the tomorrow I have ahead of me has changed,
And I must prepare myself to start over,
To build up everything I had before,
And to begin my life again.