The flowers curl up

And the foxes scamper into their dens

And the critters dart ---- hasten

And the rabbits burrow deep underground

Anywhere the animals can hide

A swamp of clouds, heavy with rain

And a little something darker

Creep across the sky 

Casting a shadow

And foreshadowing

What’s to come

There is darkness approaching

And darkness encroaching

On everyone and the world

The air is tinged with an icy chill

And time seems to slow, as if it’s trying to hide, too

A distant warning cry of the crows fades away as the last animals take cover

Silence

Gale howls a piercing, broken tune

It slips between branches, reaching out its mighty hand and grabbing, shaking the leaves every which way

Until the trees dance with electric force

Moving like puppets under the wind’s control

And those dark and heavy clouds

Give way

And cry out a waterfall of tears,

A pouring symphony

Each droplet a blur in that stampede of the heavens

As the rain races towards the earth to reunite with the soil

And the sky is alive

As all the dark forces from each corner of the world

Unite

Coming together as one center, one creature, of writhing and twisting darkness

Every now and then, a flicker of light that illuminates the darkness for a second

Just for a second

And then it is gone, eaten up by the darkness

And, as one, they cry out in a bellowing crash

That echoes through the night and deep into your bones

And the world is aflame as the tears of the heavens flee from the devil that dances in the sky and the gale howls at all who walk this earth and the deafening chorus of leaves shaking and thunder clashing and trees thrashing and it rains and rains and rains.

The sky is dark, and a storm is brewing.