-prologue.-
I've been wearing a weatherproof coat
for what feels like
1,000 years,
& if only I could know
the rain & the snow,
& how a storm in the evening feels...

-1-
a test, a test, a time to--
learn how to breathe (again) to
trust the wind to
exist in the dark-

(the boulder crushes,
crumblecrumble
a wave crashes
in&out;)

wake up--
open your eyes &
there's more to life &
there's more to life than happiness sometimes-

(the clouds in fast forward,
crackcrack
a thunder clap
boom&roar;)

-2-
come back inside
my mother ordered, as the wind began to howl
it's getting late,
& I would hate
for you to be caught in a storm.

let me sit beneath the aspen tree,
let me feel what it's like to be struck by lightning,
for it's better to be hurt & reminded that i'm alive
than to be safe&bored;&lonely;
inside.

-3-
there's pain & there's anger,
long roads & u-turns abound.
A time for what was never expected
& a time to be left unfound.

because darkness exists for a reason,
if only to push us to crave the light
there is beauty in brokenness, glory in downpours,
& falling feels good sometimes.

-epilogue.-
(eventually, the tempest subsides,
breatheinbreatheout
& the gale becomes a comforting whisper
remember&res;;).