Heat Lightning (Byr a Thoddaid)

The sky was black as black could be
above the ancient Banyan tree,
and heavy lay the midnight, choked of air.
Nowhere a bit of light.

Quite ominous, the stillness lay
across the sand, along the bay,
an eerie lack of movement held the night
a blight magnificent.

And then, as thunder grumbled low,
the sky began its one-man show;
throwing ragged fire-dart; tooth-edged flare,
to tear the night apart.

Far off, beyond my heat-dried eyes
a cooling rain fell from the skies,
but no surcease for Banyan tree or me.
Dry we remain, again.

Uplifted

In the pale honey dawn
of an August morning
I watch a butterfly bloom,
see its first frail flutter of wings,
the tentative wave of new antennae.
I hold my breath, afraid to alter the air,
fearful that my shadow may impede
this unfolding of a new life.
The butterfly waits, still as a whisper,
while its wings expand, gain strength.
At last, I breathe, and as if lifted
by the touch of my sigh,
this marvel of nature soars aloft,
weaves a pattern of beauty
across the sun-lit sky.
I stretch my arms above my head
and spin, weaving my own pattern,
feeling as if, in this moment of joy,
I too, could soar.

***

Sharon Anderson has been published in many international and local anthologies. She received a 2014 Pushcart Prize nomination for her poem Priorities. Sharon has four publications of her own poetry, Sonnets Songs and Serenades, Puff Flummery, Chutes and Ladders, and The 12 Days of Chris-Mess. She serves on the advisory board of the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society, and the advisory board for Bards Initiative. When not writing, Sharon’s other interests are gardening and square dancing.