Silence

The word so overly implies death

But in this instance

Something is about to be born

The world is silent in preparation

Waiting for its doom

The flood that is impending

And then it Starts

The Wind picks up

Stirring the stray leaves around

Like autumn-coloured capes draped over

Dancing faeries shoulders

Little packages of moisture

Come sprinkling down from the

Heavily overcast sky above

They wet the faeries’ cloaks

Dragging them slowly down

Happy dryads dance no more

The Wind blows harder

The rain falls faster

The storm begins

A rumble resounds in the distance

The rhythms of the tempest grow nearer

Black skies split by jagged daggers of light

Closely followed by the repercussions of the thunder

The storm draws nearer

And as the drums grow louder

The chaos overhead raises a cry

A cry to the firmament

Rent the skies!

Throw open the floodgates of Heaven!

Send the rain crashing down!

Hear the thunder

Pounding in your ears like

Hundreds of drums in tempo

See the lightening

Slashing at the earth

With all the ferocity of angels’ wrath

Feel the Wind

Hissing and heckling

Like thousands of demons’ curses

Let loose the raging gale in all her fury

Break bough and branch

The water tears the air

Great sheets of hail descend upon the mud

The storm climaxes violently

All are kept inside

Away from the storm

In safety and peace

Protected from the insults of the Wind

They peep out through the closely drawn curtains

To wonder at this beast that has formed

Like a roaring bull, like a fierce lion

The beast seems to buck the earth in its madness

But through all the noise and chaos

One solitary figure

Stands amidst the tumults of the monster

Ignoring its roars

Not seeming to notice it at all

For she is singing

Singing of a dream-world

In which there is no rain

It is her hope, to which she clings desperately

She shouts her praises in defiance of the storm

It drives on

Two wills fighting for domination

When it seemed the beast could drive no harder

It did

And when it seemed the girl could stand no longer

She did

An unending battle of the powers

Or so it seemed

She begins to dance

Singing even louder

Her song is a dissonant chord

In the frantic melody of the tempest

The anger of the downpour begins to falter

The raging of the beast slows

The clouds dry up and float away

A scent is left hanging afterwards

It is the smell of the faeries awakening

The smell of peace

It is silent once more

Now the storm is dead

The word fulfills its true meaning

The sound of birth and of death

Silence

fine

©2005 Caleb Warner. All Rights Reserved.