Monday Morning Musings:
“Presentiment – is that long Shadow – on the Lawn –
Indicative that Suns go down –The Notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness – is about to pass –“
–Emily Dickinson A brief analysis here.
“Oh, how this spring of love resembleth, The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all beauty of the Sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away”
–William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I Scene 3
Startled? Yes, I’ll say.
Startled awake as the cell phone plays
keening beeps, an alert. I’m dazed
read, “Tornado Warning, Take Shelter.”
Did you see them?
The words on the screen?
Not a drill, no they mean
hurry now, no time to grab all the things,
no time for caffeine, keys, or rings
I’m roused,
my body tired, but fired
I wake my husband, carry phone and one cat
down to the basement, there we sat
on a blanket by the stairs,
litter boxes nearby, but no chairs,
with bare feet, in PJs and tank shirt
waiting, (while the cats pee) but unhurt
by the storm. The radio announcer says,
this system’s killed people, he acknowledges
in the south, and I’m glad I heard this after
the all-clear, or my fear would have been greater.
(Were my clogged ears, a presentiment
of pressure dropping,
hmmm. . .are they’re popping?)
I think the rain is stopping
(at least for now).
and the birds are singing sweet and strong
glorious in their morning songs
telling the world that they are here,
announcing for now that all is clear.
***
Looking out after the early morning storm
I think of this past week in April
uncertain glory, each day
it seems, from bright to grey
shadows, sun, storms, each give way.
We went with friends into the city
We go on the train
(the forecast rain)
But when we arrived, the sky was bright
and the sun shone with April light
on flowers pink, white, yellow–
and mellow the temperature and breeze
softly stirring trees.
We sat outside, drank wine, ate cheese
feeling fine, and at ease,
wanting to hold this moment—please—
but we went
as the sky changed then–
and April rain fell again.
In more shadows and light,
we played with puppies, such a sight,
doggy kisses and wrestling moves
hard to resist, and it just proves
the bonds between animals,
the bonds between us and them
Once again
we’re home
more sun, more clouds,
watching movies of zombies and spies,
surprises and lies,
in both we see people pretending to be some other
and we see others seeing what they want to see.
And I see presentiment—the long shadow–
but hope the clouds will pass,
we’ll come to our senses
before we suffer the consequences—
But for now, coffee, cats,
and later wine,
to sleep later,
perchance to dream—
of a beginning, not an end,
of love and caring and sharing
hope of this world—to mend.
Today’s prompt, Day 15, is “to write your own dramatic monologue.” I’m not sure that I’ve done that, but my Monday Musings are always sort of an internal monologue. . . The best I can do, since I’ve been awake since the tornado alert went off around 3:20 this morning.
Sorry, we haven’t been out to the movies in a few weeks, but we did watch two movies on Netflix. The Angel, trailer here, an Israeli-American film based on a true story of a spy. It was an interesting story,good, but not great. And we saw Cargo, (trailer here) an Australian zombie film–but wait, it’s not all that gory. It has a message about family, community, cross-cultural awareness, taking care of the earth, AND it has Martin Freeman. Again, not the greatest movie ever, but enjoyable, and I liked it.
I also read a spy book, American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson. Excellent. Here’s a review.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 
Your Monday Musings are poetic monologues and I love them, which is more than I can say for most! Sounds scary about the storm. What if your phone hadn’t woken you? Love the changing (fickle) spring weather and the ending—so Shakespearean 🙂
Aww–thank you so much, Jane! I’m glad you thought the ending was Shakespearean. 🙂
The only other time my phone went off like, there really were tornados that damaged a lot of the surrounding towns, and I was in the basement alone in the afternoon. This time, I didn’t really hear a terrible storm. But the phone didn’t wake my husband (his went off, too), so it is scary to think about what could have happened.
It doesn’t sound like a very scientific method for warning people that they need to take shelter. Wouldn’t the city siren be more effective?
I’m not sure if we have one, or if a siren went off, if people would know what it was. I guess in areas where people have tornados often, there are sirens that go off. I guess with climate changes, maybe they’ll have to develop something.
Every town has a siren here. An air raid warning. It’s tested at noon the first Wednesday of the month, so if anyone wants to drop a bomb on France, they just have to note that day in their diary and nobody would take cover.
Oh. . .wow. We have an emergency broadcast system, so when our phones went off, I assume it was on the radio and TV, too, but since it was around 3:20 in the morning. . .
Europe is still prepared for the next one…
😦
Whew, glad you’re safe and hope those storms/tornados pass before more damage to those in the Mississippi areas –
Lovely musings Merril ..
Thank you very much, Susan.
This was the same system that came from the south–much more severe there. Now I think the rain is gone, but we’re going to have strong wind gusts all day.
Your words and photos always brighten my Monday, Merril. I’m glad your okay. It’s so scary to get those warnings and alerts.
Thank you, Jill! Yes, it is
I’ve never experienced a tornado, but I can imagine the heightened apprehension and fear. We have sirens throughout the city that send a test warning at 2pm on Thursdays (during the season), but the hilly/bluff terrain within the city hinders the formation. There have been some small twisters within five miles of town. My wife had an experience as a child, while visiting her grandmother near St. Joseph, Missouri. With a tornado visible a quarter-to-half-mile away, her uncle forced her to stand outside the storm cellar much longer than she wanted to, only letting her in at her grandmother’s insistence.
Fortunately, I’ve never experienced a tornado either, only very severe thunderstorms with tornado warnings. In the summer, we do get tornado watches sometime, but to have a warning in April is very unusual.
I’m glad your wife was OK. Her uncle sounds like a monster.
I love your Monday Musing Posts. What? Didn’t go to a play or the movies? That said, Morgan Freeman is reason enough to watch anything 😉 and I already watch The Walking Dead so…
I always turn the volume off my phone otherwise the pinging of WP comments would wake me! I can’t just keep notifications for text on because all notifications are affected. Hmm… something to think about.
Oh! And I LOVE both snippets of both poems.
You mean the quotes at the top? The Emily Dickinson poem is actually the entire poem. It’s a short one.
Yes, those. Sorry, I was going to check them out! Oh me… such a poetry neophyte 😉
I didn’t even know the Dickinson poem–just saw it in the blog post! I’m not very knowledgeable about poets and poetry either. 🙂
There’s a modern one I really enjoy. You might have heard of her… goes by the name of Merril D. Smith…
Hahahahaha. Thank you! 😘
😁😘
Thank you very much, Dale!
It’s Martin Freeman, the English actor, not Morgan Freeman.
I don’t have my e-mail set up on my phone because it would be too annoying, and I only get WP notifications by e-mail. I do sometimes hear Twitter notifications though. 🙂
I’m batting a thousand today, aren’t I? 🙄😏
You are a smart woman.
😉
You have used the light to create the drama and to produce excellent photographs
Thank you, Derrick. High praise indeed from the master!
🙂
🙂
You are always telling stories, Merril, connecting past, present, and future. I missed the tornado warning totally, only hearing it was over on the morning news. I did just go out in the sun and come home in the pouring rain (luckily I had my fold-up umbrella!) Changeable skies running rampant this past week.(K)
Thank you, Kerfe.
My husband would have slept through it. I didn’t know you got it there, too.
It’s crazy-windy here now.
Here too. The brand new buds are blowing down! (I think allergy pills will be in order tomorrow…)
Already taking them here!
I understand your tiredness. Same here. The tornado warning arrived shortly after the one you received, I think. Between 3:30 and 4:00 AM. We don’t have basements, for the most part, on the Eastern Shore. We end up in a walk-in closet in the bathroom that’s as close as we can get to an interior room without windows (the bathroom does have a window). I remember our first tornado warning here. It was in the afternoon, and the weather guy was instructing kids who might have just been getting home from school to put on their bike helmets and some strong hiking boots, grab a mattress, pillows, or lots of blankets, and hunker down in an interior room without windows (if such exists).
I enjoyed your musings as always. You have some beautiful photos of a spring day in the city. I’m feeling the hope of spring, too. May it bring about those changes you mention at the end. 🙂
Thank you very much, Robin!
Even our basement has windows, but it seems the safest place. It’s scary.
What a drama to wake to. I am so glad to hear it passed you all and yet amazed at how much beauty and blossom there is, from the photos, all around you just afterwards. Nature is an oximoron all of her own!
Thank you, Damien. The photos are actually from over the week/weekend before yesterday’s early morning warning (except for the cat photos). But we didn’t have any storm damage, and yesterday, I found some our tulips had burst into bloom!