I saw the rotation
in your eyes,
the mounting
barometric pressure,
sensed the staleness of the air,
a bitter breeze
a bleak billow,
the clouds coughing
like exhaust fumes,
a distant menace
fomenting,
then the onslaught
rumbling,
grousing,
straight-line winds
pelting torrents,
the water wall,
rolling like apocalypse,
debris whirling,
swirling around me,
a vortex of betrayal,
a massacre of memories,
trust thrust
like projectiles
slashing
around, at, through
me,
like venom-tipped needles,
jabbed into my soul,
my pain
peeled like paint,
vulnerability unmasked,
identity stripped naked,
shaken,
exposed,
excoriated.
Then
the winds
slacked,
rain relented,
and clouds vaporized.
The sun streamed
a flicker of
grace,
of tender warmth
like maternal arms,
and I stood,
bent
like tree limbs,
exhausted,
battered,
maimed,
and realized
I had survived
you.