Boom!
Lightning strikes,
thunder claps
within.

The assault
ricochets
through the body,
drives downward
to the ground,
shakes the heart,
weakens the limbs,
until I shiver
in my bones.

I call to the
Steady One.

Suddenly,
brightness illuminates
my white-knuckled
grip.

I see it,
the reliance
on mate
success,
liberalism or
even
my cat’s purr.

The thunder
shakes that grip,
rattles it
loosens it.

I clench tighter,
try to hold on.

But the tremor
resonates,
the lightning
illuminates
until I have no choice
but to let go.

The fear,
the striving
drop
to the ground.

Quiet returns—
a new calm,
a deeper peace:

The stillness that follows a storm,
when the air hangs moist,
distant mountains shine blue
and birds settle on branches
chirping in the new dawn.

Then,
when I least expect it,
another strike.

Even brighter
lightning bursts.
Louder
thunder claps,
rumbling,
a kettle drum—
its resonance,
a promise
of yet
more
Love.

Photograph by Memphis Barbaree: Memphis photographs Nature, not as a place or thing, but as a way of being. “By coming to know Nature, we come to know ourselves,” she says. Her photos have been featured in many publications and galleries, and in her stunning art books. View more of her work at www.memphisbarbree.com