While the Tempest Rages

 

Travellers gaze upwards with anxious glances

While branches come crashing to the ground

Double glazed windows assaulted by the gales

A test of strength for the garden shed and glasshouse

Birds circling as in a whirlpool below a lowering sky

Pedestrians angled acutely forward against the blast

Umbrellas outside-in, their twisted spokes fractured

Mothers grip their toddlers ever tighter

Children fail to circumnavigate the puddles

The lollipop man battles with his wayward sign

Motorists give wide berth to high-sided lorries

The A signs outside shops cartwheel across the pavement

Nervous passengers suspended in the terminal

Perhaps happy not yet to be whirling aloft

Ships at sea scurry for safe havens

Novice cruise passengers fail to find sea legs

Office workers plea for an early release

Lest they be marooned twixt work and home

College students simply lie abed – why bother?

Weather forecasters issue ominous warnings

More strident as they move from the Yellow

Through the Amber to the Red – Take Action!

 

But what action can we take?

As the Americans say

Let’s hunker down!

Calm is sure to return

Sadly, not yet!

Ken Fisher