White Knuckles

December 2015

We started by shutting the windows.

The sun gleamed and the sky was clear,

But we knew what was coming.

My mother sat by the window and waited,

Ready for the sky to come plummeting down

And crush the walls around us.

Sure enough,

Trees shivered and shadows scuttled away

As a charcoal cloud came looming overhead.

My mother clenched her eyes shut,

But when they cracked open,

The only drops that fell came from her own eyes.