POEMS

The Rainbow after the Storm

May 9, 2015

The Rainbow after the Storm

By Delilah Nalysnyk

When the dry forest burns, animals flee

The flames lash violently at trees and tears

Away the ferns that are home to the deer

Ash scars roots of plants leaving them bare

While the sky is stained grey, the one deer

Continues to search for her lost does

Ash swirls around the air like a dose

Of toxic clouds catching all who flee

From the poisonous land, one will wonder

How to start again and have stained tears

Drip down your cheeks when you see the dead bear

Whom was a mother's newborn and was dear

Storm clouds gather above, as do the deer

And at last the mother deer's little doe

Returns, bouncing back from the land now bare

As thunder shouts, the deer begin to flee

Lightning dances across the sky and tears

Through the clouds and strikes downward to one deer

The doe approaches mother and wonders

Why she won't rise and run with the other deer

If doe were even capable, would tears

Have leaked from its eyes at the sight or does

This just mean it was time to grow and flee

Away from his mother and leave her bare?

At forest's edge, you see mother bear

Nudging her cub to get up, but wonders

And realizes it will not and flees

Passing the griever and runs with the deer

But notices the grieving little doe

And she comes back to stop its unseen tears

But the doe refuses to stop its tears

Lightning blazes overhead, forcing the bear

To enrage, roar, and bare its fangs are the doe's

Selfish desire to stay and wonder

How to survive without the mother deer

The bear sparked new fear to help the doe flee

Rain tears begin to fade, leaving one deer

And bear to start friendship after the Flee

The doe's new friend helped him become a grown deer