Thoughts on a Stormy Night

By James G. Piatt

Splintered raindrops splashed on the remnants of my
dreams as the sky filled with the haunting sounds of 
nightfall’s cold winds. A storm thrown against the last days 
of March breathed its last gasp and I struggled through the 
cold hours of the night with thoughts of a sunnier 
tomorrow. A sense of mortality was hidden amid the 
images of raindrops intermittently battering against the 
storm windows. They were like sprinkles of light splashing 
down from the stars. It was cold outside, and I heard the 
faint chirping of songbirds trying to stay dry by being 
secreted in bushes away from stormy gusts. Water was 
dripping off the eaves, like pieces of time surfacing, then 
vanishing into the void of lost hours. Trees were bending to 
the weapons of wind and rain, their shields of leaves blown 
into the sky and lost. I was trying to sleep amidst the 
deafening intermittent din of thunder and lightning, which 
assaulted my ears and eyes made the room glow with an 
explosion of light and sound that twisted around the room, 
looking for ways to escape. I heard wood shingles on the 
roof being blown off the roof onto the brick patio, making a 
stentorian noise, and I shuddered. The patterns of raindrops 
on the windows lit up by the lightning bolts snaked across 
the panes like bright sparks falling from stars. Then, in a 
gap of time, I realized that the rain and wind had worn 
down my dreams. As I listened to the sounds of the storm, I 
remembered that someone once told me when I was but a 
small child, that you must live in the moment and enjoy 
everything that takes place, for each event has its place and 
all things are beautiful, even the din of thunder, the flash of 
thunderbolts, and the sounds of drenching rain battering 
roofs. Even death, it was said, was just another door into 
another life. 

James, a retired professor and octogenarian, lives in Santa Ynez, California, with his wife Sandy, and an Aussie dog named Scout. He is the author of five collections of poetry: The Silent Pond, Ancient Rhythms, LIGHT, Solace Between the Lines, and Serenity, over 1830 individual poems, 40 short stories, and five novels, in hundreds of national and international literary publications. He earned his doctorate from BYU and his BS and MA from California State Polytechnic University, SLO. He was nominated twice for the Best of The Net award, and four times for the Pushcart award.