Thunderstruck
I am humbled
By bellowing rumbles;
Thunderstruck.
Like an unexpected wave in the ocean-
I’m absolutely sacked.
I’m rendered frozen.
The night is bright for an instant
Before returning to black,
And with the darkness, a tactile thunderclap.
It is supernatural:
Nature elevated.
I’m reminded of my briefness and weakness-
A singular ape devastated.
My mortality in a moment,
Brilliant and understated.
Booming basses
Ricochet around my heart,
Reminding me of when you and I were afraid of the dark,
Something so much bigger than us
That it could trigger us
Into such acute awareness of our vulnerability.
O humanity, with all its fragility.
Fat raindrops fall,
Pelting us mere mortals.
Like a divine barrage,
I watch in terrified awe
Of a sky no longer cordial
From the safety of my garage.
Fragility shielded by resilience,
I hear my shelter creak.
I am but one of many filaments,
Collectively strong, yet individually weak.
I am reminded of my place,
A finite mote of dust
Dancing while I must
Within greater cycles of time and space.
I feel an emotion I know my ancestors-
All from my species-
Have felt.
A connection between past lives and predecessors.
It frees me,
A universal experience akin to the rain we’ve smelt.
A connection, maybe, to all those gifted and cursed
With the dimming light
Of conscious life:
To tremble before the power of the Earth.
