When The Winds Came ( of storms and hurricanes)

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2012-08-31 03:20 PM

When The Winds Came

When the winds came, we were waiting...

But they came, not with the gentleness
of summer breeze,
but with the ferocity of the beast unleashed,
howling, bent on striking terror
into the heart of the prey;
bent on rendering and tearing,
ripping apart all within its reach.

And it loosed, not the gentleness,
the nurturing, life-sustaining rain,
but torrential downpours,
side-slipping, stinging,
inundating waterfalls
that filled and submerged,
and washed away lifetimes
of heart and soul.

And together, they buried dreams and lives.

When the winds and the rains came,
we thought God had forgotten his promise,
we thought it was the prelude to the end,
that we had been forsaken ,
that three days were forty,
day and night were the same,
and salvation was blowing,
washing away,
faster than thought could pray.

When the winds came,
and the rains came,
and hope was swirling in eddies and currents,
and we were reaching the limits
of hope and faith,
and we were desperately grasping
with fingertip reach . . .

a tornadic funnel of despair
ripped through all we had left
with a narrow cone of cyclonic evil,
leaving us naked and stripped,
alone, in a corner,
of what once had been convergent walls.

We were born in the middle of last night
in a baptismal of natural forces.
Everything had been stripped away.
Everything was gone.

Except Life,

and the hint of sunrise this morning;

breaks in the clouds,
blue sky,
softening winds,
no rain.

God was smiling again.

And we . . . were starting over.

© wesley james beard, jr.
august 31, 2012

Lori Grosser Rhoden
Member Patricius

since 2009-10-10

Posts 10202
Fair to middlin' of nowhere

1 posted 2012-08-31 04:00 PM

There is nothing like tragedy to make a person grateful for life and realize how many "things" they can live without.
I think your captured of this is excellent!

Lori

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

2 posted 2012-08-31 04:01 PM

Not possible to be written any better, my friend. Not possible.

~*~ If they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

3 posted 2012-08-31 04:28 PM

Wow, dear Jimmy, you made me shiver inside with the power of this excellent, deeply dramatic write.

To find the force to start over after such an event gives people the greatness of heroes.

This will linger in my mind for quite a while!

Margherita

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

4 posted 2012-08-31 05:11 PM

Thank you Lori. You're so right, tragedy is the ultimate equalizer. My heart bleeds for all those face it.

j.

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

5 posted 2012-08-31 05:13 PM

I appreciate it Jerry. You and I have both been through several of these, and there is no apt description other than being there.

Hope you fared well. My family came though this one relatively unscathed, thank goodness.

j.

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

6 posted 2012-08-31 05:17 PM

Margherita, if I am ever forced to make that kind of decision, I hope I have the strength to do as so many others have and do.

Thanks for being there...

j.

JL
Member Ascendant

since 2004-04-01

Posts 6128
Texas, USA

7 posted 2012-08-31 05:18 PM

"God was smiling again.

And we . . . were starting over."

Amen to that.
Excellent writing, my friend.

JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

Startime1955
Senior Member

since 2012-04-22

Posts 1072
Alberta, Canada

8 posted 2012-08-31 08:29 PM

My heart beat faster with each word as I felt the dangerous power of this storm...I am glad you are safe my friend...*BIG HUGS*

*may our dreams ever be magical*

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

9 posted 2012-08-31 08:56 PM

Thank you, JL and Startime.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

10 posted 2012-09-01 08:35 AM

Whilst I realised that this may or may not have been about you (before I saw in the replies that you and your family didn’t have it too badly), it has me in floods of tears, because it is obviously so real for so many people. We don’t have tornadoes and hurricanes in South Africa (except that in the last few years, presumably because of global warming, we have had a couple of tornadoes localised in one or two areas, but I don’t think as bad as the ones in the USA and other countries – but more than bad enough, though), and so I have no experience of them at all. I have just seen a few moments of them on TV when they hit international news and when they have been a part of fictional TV. I have relived Ruth’s and Alison’s experiences vicariously and tremulously many times and the horror of tornadoes and hurricanes is just too convoluted for my simple little mind to imagine.

Owl

BluesSerenade
Member Patricius

since 2001-10-23

Posts 10549
By the Seaside

11 posted 2012-09-04 09:57 PM

Your poem is so descriptive, your words literally sucked me in!!

I especially loved the aftermath.

Good writing, jwesley~

Prasad Nataraj
Senior Member

since 2008-05-29

Posts 1149
Bangalore,India

12 posted 2012-09-05 06:51 AM

touchy,descriptive and emotional writing! Would picture the images in my mind!

"The secret behind survival of mankind is kindness and love within our hearts"
prasadnatarajan5.blogspot.com/

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

13 posted 2012-09-11 04:00 PM

I
can
not
breathe...

That's how powerful this is!

So raw, so real... I was sucked back into the terror.

As shaky breath once again inflates my lungs and trembling fingers remember how to type, I'll just say... You nailed it.

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.