Lightning illuminates the gnarled branches <br />Of the old tree outside the windowpane <br />Rain trickles down the glass in clear rivulets <br />But the storm inside is much worse than out <br />For inside rages an emotional storm <br />And those are always most severe <br />A man, all alone, grappling with his feelings <br />Twisting emotions of hatred, doubt, and pain <br />The picture most grim from where he sits <br />No hope in sight, he withdraws from the world <br />A metallic flash as the harsh fluorescents <br />Brilliantly illuminate the bitter end, serrated <br />Rain trickles down the glass in crimson rivulets <br />The storm inside having run its course <br />Subsides and gives in to the howling wind <br />As a lone man lies motionless on gleaming tile <br />A smile stretching his lips at long last<br /><br />Elizabeth Sheaffer<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/and-the-storm-rages-on/
