First Storm - Raphael Block

[Larry Robinson]

First Storm 

Skylights pulse
with drumming downpour—
the eucalyptus sways, loops, 
and bends like a crazy fairground ride. 
Rain sloshes on the decks, streams 
down windows. Sheets slide 
over gutters. The power goes out.
 
The last of the well water fills 
a large cooking pot and buckets for the toilet.
Candles lit, flashlights ready, I turn 
to a different power source—the one
that carpeted the deck with serrated beech leaves, 
the one that released this Big Dipper, the one 
that has me tied to each waking moment 
and in the night deluges me in dreams,
the one without name whom I call on,
who responds in unexpected ways,
the one I’ve learned to trust beyond
silver, gold, and even blood,
beyond the carousel of good and bad. 

	- Raphael Block