how close the distant mountain

how bright the child's eyes

how beautiful the sunset

just before its demise

when cold descends on summer

I pay a chilling cost

I begs, I plead

I fights, I bleed

but my innocence is lost

how grey the world of colour

how silent is the noise

how lonely the front runner

once dreams are destroyed

when warmth melts through the winter

sun lights up my day

I hope, she feel

I prays, I heal

yet -

the pain won't go away...

Steve Stander

Breathless waiting

Bright blue fading

Nothing stirring

Vision blurring

Heaviness descends

Green skies without end

A flash and a crack

Chaos attacks

The skies exhale

A mighty gale

Tears of god

Pelt ground and sod

Soaking the earth

A flash flood’s birth

By lightning and thunder

Darkness splits asunder

A blacker shade of night

revealed in electric light'

Writhes and twists

As wind uplifts

And God’s wrath

Devours a path

Through all that lingers

Where He points his finger

After all is done

All is undone

Steve Stander