concert and the storm within

just got back from my band concert. i only really liked one song that we did. it's called Etowah, and it's WICKED AWESOME! :-D i love the french horn part...i got to wail away on bits, and i had the melody, and i got to explore different tonal qualities of it, which was quite fun. here's a link to the piece: http://www.fjhmusic.com/band/b1366.htm i don't have a recording, but this song is lots of fun, and rather different than what we usually play...an enjoyable challenge. :-D

and now...for the main part of this post...the storm within. this is something i just sat down and wrote. normally, i’m not one to write poetry. i usually prefer to read someone else’s work (and maybe perform it). but, occasionally, i will step out of my boat onto the raging sea and have a go. like i randomly decided to do today. i’m a lazy bum when it comes to poetry though...i usually say “heck with it” and write free-verse...no rhyming, no certain number of syllables, no nothin’. just what i want to write the way i want to write it. (i think i’ve willingly written all of three poems that were not free-verse.)

so, here goes. i have a book idea that has been banging insistently upon my brain, and this may go into it...not sure.

The Storm Within
The storm raging
Outside my window is
Nothing
To the storm within me
I hear the wind howl
The house shakes with the wind’s fury
My dog cowers at my feet as though
I
Am his safe harbor
His stronghold
The calming factor for the elements without

But within is something far worse
I must live with the knowledge that
I
Cannot go to my friend

She lies
Comatose
In a hospital
Not far away
But far enough that I cannot go to her
My parents will not permit me
To drive in the ice and snow
So I must wait

I must wait as she lies
Neither dead nor alive
Recognizing no one
Not experiencing the storm without

I remember the call
About half an hour earlier
It was her mother
“A terrible accident,” she said
I stand
Paralyzed
As she tells me what happened four hours
Before her call

Emily was driving to work
No different than any other Saturday
She was not
Talking on her cell phone
Speeding
Driving recklessly in any way
While she was crossing an intersection
A drunk driver
Slammed
Into the driver’s side door
Shoving her car across four lanes of traffic
Into the cars on the other side
Of the intersection

She survived – thank You, God – but
Is in the ICU
Unconscious
Unable to experience the winter’s rage
Unable to feel her friends’ worry
Unable to hear our prayers for her recovery
And I am
STUCK
With my thoughts
And my worries

What will happen now
Will she recover
Will she ever be the same
They say she suffered no brain damage
That
Except for the bruises
She looks the same
But another call
Ten minutes later
Changes everything

“We have to amputate,” her mother says
“The X-rays have come back”
“Her left leg below the knee is shattered”
“Splinters of bone everywhere”
I sit down
Numb with shock
Emily
Because of someone’s stupid decision
Will never run again

Don’t think you are immune
To the effects of alcohol
If you drink and drive
Lives are at stake
If you drink and drive
Someone will get hurt
This could be you
Your best friend could be Emily
She did nothing wrong
Was doing everything right
Be careful of your actions
Or on judgment day
The storm without
Will easily overpower
The storm within

-enna