Stormy Night

Stormy Night

Thunder grumbles,
rumbles,
CRACK!
mere seconds after
a blinding flash
illuminates the midnight sky.

A lone raindrop
splats on the window pane
quickly joined by another
         and then another
         and then another
in rapid succession.

A gust of wind
BURSTS in
through the open window
lifting the blinds
and making them dance
before smacking them back down.
The air smells damp,
electric
charged -
something is about to happen.

You roll over,
muttering softly
seemingly unaware of the storm
         which even after 16 years
         seems so incredible to me
and drape your arm across my stomach
just as another flare of light
         and then another
         and then another
erupt in blazing flashes.

Counting 1-2-3
         CRACK! BOOM!

The sky opens up
with a torrent of rain -
the sound deafening
even overwhelming
the explosive thunder.

And still you do not awaken ~
you roll away from me
         turning your back to me.

I stroke your bare back
listening to the storm
unable to sleep -
wishing
for perhaps the millionth time
that I could sleep through the storms too.

*****

This poem was inspired by a midnight thunderstorm which my husband miraculously slept through. Earlier in the day we were talking about how he was handling my father's battle with cancer (he and my dad are VERY close). At the end of our conversation he commented that "denial was the river that watered his family tree."