Watching Lightning
by Wulf Losee

The temperature climbed through the day.
Heat clung to the land like a tick,
Still air smothered the river's surface
As we swam into the shade
In a pool beneath the hemlocks.

The winds began after sunset
And accelerated into an ozone frenzy
Gusting the heavy branches
Pale waves of rising leaves
Rolled in before the coming storm.

*****

We drove to Horse Barn Hill.
The sky was alive with hidden lightning
The fat rain pelted me as I opened the gate.
We drove to the crest
Where the fields curved down from the edge.

We passed a joint between us.
The red tip glowed illuminating your face
In the close dimness of the car.
As Lightning strikes pounded the hills to the east
We grinned at the chaos.

...And you turned to say something
But I failed to reach you
Across the gap of hesitation
As we fell into a far space.
Or maybe it was a clap of thunder.

Consciousness is a fast changing cloud.
Sometimes the spark is set -- but grounds itself --
And anchors us to the moment.
The chance of the storms we carry within us:
Sometimes lightnings dissipate --
-- or sometimes they flow forever.

The temperature climbed through the day.
Heat clung to the land like a tick,
Still air smothered the river's surface
As we swam into the shade
In a pool beneath the hemlocks.

The winds began after sunset
And accelerated into an ozone frenzy
Gusting the heavy branches
Pale waves of rising leaves
Rolled in before the coming storm.

*****

We drove to Horse Barn Hill.
The sky was alive with hidden lightning
The fat rain pelted me as I opened the gate.
We drove to the crest
Where the fields curved down from the edge.

We passed a joint between us.
The red tip glowed illuminating your face
In the close dimness of the car.
As Lightning strikes pounded the hills to the east
We grinned at the chaos.

...And you turned to say something
But I failed to reach you
Across the gap of hesitation
As we fell into a far space.
Or maybe it was a clap of thunder.

Consciousness is a fast changing cloud.
Sometimes the spark is set -- but grounds itself --
And anchors us to the moment.
The chance of the storms we carry within us:
Sometimes lightnings dissipate --
-- or sometimes they flow forever.