The rain lashed the walls of my face 

Each drop piercing the skin as I chased 

The old unused tent that threatened to fly 

Off the terrace. Someone gave that tent 

To my daughters for them to play,

And there it stayed for years thereafter, out grown,

But not remembered to be thrown.

The clouds raced their chariots across the sky

In greys I never knew existed, as birds

Flapped their wings against the breeze searching 

For a way out of the storm, a place to call home

Even for a while. The wind blew in a flower

from three houses down. The maid silently weeps

As her daughter cannot be reached

She did not go to the evacuation center

And the embankments have been breached. 

But we are safe here, in our homes. 

Outside the cyclone rages, winds blowing

In every direction, nature is so fierce, someone wailed.

Nature reminds us now and again how small,

How helpless we all are. How small and useless

How weak and ineffective in our mighty towers. 

Aluminum sheets from that fancy building 

Rained from the sky, others danced the streets

Turning jagged corners as the wind 

Spun them in the air. Trees have fallen

As trees in concrete tend to, their roots

Unable to withstand a cyclone. The wind blew

In a flower from three houses down. How strong 

Are the roots that you cling to? Where do you go

When you want to be home? Can you withstand 

This devastation? Do you have yourself to cling to? 

Do you seek or do you provide shelter in a storm? 

For we are safe here, in our homes. 

There is a mother unable to feed her child

Who feeds her hunger with drain water tonight

A father that carries the world on shoulders

That never have shuddered in delight.

Of course, then there is Facebook

Asking, are you safe in the cyclone?

Have you kept your distance, have you been spared,

The whimsical vagaries of nature, are you home?

How are they, those who were walking?

Those whose homes have been washed away?

The wind cannot read directions, it blew

In a flower from three houses down.

But where does the blood and water flow?

These are things we only debate upon

Talking in hushed voices, watching

Videos forwarded in clusters.

You see, we are safe in our homes.