first of all
came the cirrus
deceptively
featherly
light
like an
ostrich feather
or white and blue
freckled boa
draped round the neck
of an elegant Berliner
listening to Wagner's
brooding storm
in the 1930s
after the scouts
came the light infantry
the altocumulus
weakening the sun
with a fine hazy blanket
deceptively fluffy
growing larger deeper
making an imperfect once
sun-filled world even darker
then the heavy brigade
massive nimbocumulus
followed by the artillery
surging upwards and outwards
anvil headed
thunder laden gargantuans
streaked
flashing
startling
going to earth
frightening
us mere mortals
below
there was nowhere to hide
no place safe
as the flat and rolling plain
to the Baltic and the Urals
was rendered dark
for years
nay decades
blitzed by almighty storms
from west to east
and back again
we children
sheltered shattered
in field and fen
trembling before their gods
never ours
