By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor
The Carpet And The Storm
excerpt from “The Reason”:
“Why wait at all?
Hope springs alive,
Good may befall
I yet may thrive.”
– Stevie Smith
Soft patterns of white and blue
Beneath my feet,
Hard streaming lines of grey and blue
Above my head,
And silence permeated by rolling thunder
Inside my ears—
These are the sounds before the fall
Of the world and everything we know
And everyone we loved and everything that’s small,
These are the sounds that we wait for, but why wait at all?
I’ve cleaned the soft patterns of white and blue,
I’ve ran them over with a vacuum
Over and over,
I’ve painted the streaming lines of grey and blue—
The sky that never changes
From within my hive,
And the rolling thunder takes a tumble down the sidewalk
And into the valley and down the street,
The sound that is almost enticing because it’s one that thrives
The sound of life, of when hope springs alive.
But for now, my feet remain planted
In soft patterns of white and blue,
And my head remains below the clouds—
Streaming lines of grey and blue,
And silence is permeated by vacuums and
Rolling thunder, down the street it will sprawl
Living still happens,
Breathing in and out from inside,
But living is now so very small
And as long as we keep on breathing, good may befall.
And I’ve found comfort in the soft patterns of white and blue
Beneath my feet,
And in the hard-streaming lines of grey and blue
Above my head,
I’ve found comfort in waiting in between beats of rolling thunder,
The silence no longer too thick to breathe, too thick to survive
In and out from inside
Under and over
Even though I am one of many who must live with deprive
I’ve found comfort that I yet may thrive.
