Storms in Oklahoma can be intense, frightening and awesomely beautiful. They are a favorite theme of mine.

Spring Storm

Last night
a wild and raging wind
ripped a towering walnut tree
apart seven feet above
where its thick truck emerged
from the ridge above the deep cedar creek.

Fallen from the tall green canopy,
in its place now is
                emptiness;
the clouds and the red-brown
water rushing by without remorse.

But I mourn the great tree;
fractured from the place it held
with quiet dignity for so long.

Oh how my poor soul
longs for an earthly permanence,
amidst the ever-changing currents of life;

amidst the strong winds of adversity
shifting the shape and duration, in due time,
of all living things.

How desperately
and in vain I hope against nature's law
not ever to be broken;
not ever to be removed.

Next poem: Aftermath

Author: Jerry Dan Deutschendorf
from: Red Earth Whisperings
Part I: Nature and the Nature of Things