The Need for a Storm

Do you sometimes recognise the need for weather conditions

That help shape your inner emotional world?

Years ago, I walked out of the crematorium

After the funeral of a 13-year-old girl.

She radiated a zest for life until the very end.

Behind her, a full head of red curls always bounced along.

The ceremony ended

with a song she had sung.

We came out in a line.

The sun was shining brightly and fiercely, unrestrained.

It made me a little angry.

That wasn't right, was it?

Had the sun not seen the death notice, her age?

Or was it just a lack of compassion?

Today, all my thoughts are jumbled together

Over and under and between and along and again

The noise around me

makes the knot even tighter

To untangle them, I would love to

stand in the raging wind

See my hair blowing around me in tornadoes

Come home with bright red cheeks

And make hot chocolate

But the wind is silent

In contrast to everything around me

So I quietly sit down in a corner

And begin to gently untangle the knot myself.