Carry On Tuesday #62

(Image from layoutsparks.com)

Carry On Tuesday Prompt #62 is the first line of The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt (2008):
"Lightning first, then the thunder. And in between the two...."

midnight storm
shoving up the wide window
I peer into midnight skies
purpled by city lights.

I grip the wooden ledge
watching the roll of coming storm
obscure the few stars.

lightning first illumines deep skies--
swirling wind hovering--
then the thunder groaned,

delayed by its slower nature,
delayed like the pain following
the violent slap to my face,

humiliation and fear flushing along
my cheekbones more brightly than
mere physical hurt.

should I turn the other cheek?
let the ache, so tightly tethered,
wander where it will?

allow the unspeakable a word
or two, or perhaps let an image
splay across my mind, legs open?

memory bangs with angry fists
demanding liberation,
but I keep all safely fettered.

the skies open wide to the storm, releasing
a downdraft of freeing wind,
a downpour of cleansing rain.

and tears course
for the first time
since that midnight.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett