I watch the hush before late clouds
push in to you, before wide sky

is cut with charcoal bands that wrap
you in rushed breath of coming storms.

Before thunder reverberates
against uplifted granite fields.

Before the lightning, wind and rain,
before you shake that wet, gray cloak.

Before calmed dark dissolves stirred light,
unmasking owls and constellations.


First appeared in Mountain Gazette