The storms that passed by…

Standing by my bedroom window, looking at the storm outside,
I gaze at the trees falling, uprooted from the ground.
The same majestic trees which stood in all their pride,
Giving us shelter and forming a beautiful canopy.
I hear the winds howling like a mad dog,
Whistling through the small gap in the door,
Threatening to let the rain splatter in..

And there I was, alone in my house, lost in thoughts,
A part of me urged to get myself moving, do something,
Maybe shut the door tighter, secure the windows better.
But I was frozen, as there was another storm rising slowly,
The one suppressed for long behind the brave face I put up.

The storm inside me, the uproar of feelings,
where my thoughts screamed louder than the winds outside,
When my heart pounded harder than the rain that hit the glass doors,
I felt the goosebumps raise on my arms,
I knew this was long due..
Maybe it was time to unleash the emotions and let it pour out,
The storm(s) grew to their glory, wiped out most of the trees,

As the rain hit harder, adrenaline rushed through my system.
Hours of hard work went by to keep the fortress standing intact.
And when the storm did pass, it left me staring into the night so eerie.
Where all I heard was the cry of the injured animals
and the flicker of the dying candle light.
I lay down, exhausted with heavy eyelids.
Dark and alone but feeling the small victory of surviving.

And then as the law of nature goes, the sun rose, a new day began.
There was an unusual sense of peace in the air,
The birds didn’t chirp, the cars didn’t pass by, the door bell didn’t ring, the water taps remained dry.
And then I stepped out, found the world outside turned upside down, the aftermath of the storm.
Trees fallen down, their branches covering the entire width of the road.
Out there I saw the destruction, my gardens shattered,

But then I heard them, the playful sounds of the children who jumped around the trees.
Everyone who usually stayed indoors and didn’t even exist to one another, came out that morning.
People helped one another to restore the streets slowly.
And that’s when I felt the storm in me settle down too,
All that  had happened was past now.
It’s time to start new, it’s time to build myself up once again.
It’s gonna be difficult, well it never was easy.
But it’s gonna be on my terms- my failures, my victories.

The little me stood there smiling at the storms that had passed.

(Dedicated to those scary 24 hours of being stuck alone in Cyclone Vardah, Dec 2016, MWC.)