Coming Up Into the Light

You can only hunker down so long & then the wind dies
   or rushes on to some other place to do its damage
   & all that time you've been huddled there together
        holding your breath, hoping against
		 
        wildest hope that up aboveground
          nothing you love has been
              blown away
				 
          hoping with a deep longing
            the wind has cleared
                the air &
				  
                 the new
                  light
                 shining
                   is 
                  there 
                   to 
                  stay

From Escaping Tornado Season by Julie Williams. Copyright © 2004 by Julie Williams. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. No part of this book may be used or repoduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.