It woke me from

A sound, sound sleep,

With brilliant flashes

Of blue-white light

Followed by

A great cacophony

Of sound

As if someone had

Crashed two great

Cymbals

An inch

From my ear.

With a pounding heart

I reared up in bed, where,

For a moment,

I was confused

And frightened

Before the flash-bang

Of the approaching storm

Oriented me

And reasserted

My senses.

As my panic receded

I heard

The accompanying percussion

Of wind-driven rain

Hard upon our tin roof

And against our windows,

And as I sat there

Safe in my bed and

Breathing in

The freshening air,

I began to glory

In the awesome and

Exceedingly beautiful display

Of  Mother Nature’s

Divine power.