If only the storms stayed outside,
Raged over islands and tropical trees,
Raining torrentially
Miles from me
While my roof holds tight.

Instead it fractures my heart,
Tosses my spirt with a strength
That throws me off my feet
Destroys any sense of equilibrium.

Balance exists no more
Logic flees my home
Pressing me first against a crumbling wall
Then
Threatening I will become a wayward kite.

Calm escapes
My nerves go to their edge
Pleas, nor prayers remedy my state.
The barometer rules.

Charlene James-Duguid
Amissville, Virginia