Upheaval

Part 1

More beautiful than blue calm is the thunderstorm dropping onto the green plain like a black bag filled with uncoiling springs.

More vital than the cobalt of night is the brilliant lightning that splits the darkness and momentarily ignites white into the bellies of clouds.

Perfectly sharp, the flung splinters of a white oak toppled by a hurricane wind.

Irrefutable and overwhelming, the stark space where an earthen avalanche wipes clean the forest and anchoring loam to reveal the underlying face of stone.

With purpose, the volcano spews ruby-red molten stone and fire into sea.

Part 2

Everlasting is the long sigh, the brown eyes held shut, the long and silent drive home under slowly turning stars.

--Mitchell Hegman