Hurricane Sally

HURRICANE SALLY, 9/16/20 With an unprecedented surge She has taken my name And is raging her way across the Gulf, In all manner of alarming the population: To stir, to retreat, to shelter, To abandon the known For all other available possibilities, to go on Far from what we find ferocious, Or never anticipated, Or not in the forecast. We mumble slight prayers against Devastations. In a rush we gather our families and photos, Our pets and necessary papers; we grab A change of clothing and medicines. Who Thought we could live with the least? We think second prayers, hoping God will Know the rest of our entreaties. We take flight from home bases to higher ground. The wind is heard coming. Already weighty drops smack the ground. Our children’s eyes are bulging out. The ghastly, ghostly howls of the storming Sally Have come, as she keeps overhead with A continuous rumbling, rolling. Kept rolling, Barreling, haunting from above: these tones Of tempest as the water rises, and demons flank The roads and mark the bridges, “No entry!” Peace resides still, perhaps in some elsewhere, For now as we continue on to a higher ground And the hurry has chased us into long hours. We try to remember we still carry all stillness Within us, with reaching somewhere deep. The eyes with no mercy Will not rain even here today! **********. ************ ************ (C) sally young eslinger 9/1616/20 Sending blessings to storm-affected families!