Blood & Bone By Liz Patrick Silence The air is heavy.... Hangs like a golden memory Of youth & strength: Enough to make the wind Stop short, Its breath taken away. We stood in the hot field Surrounded by air... Only atmosphere And wide flat life We felt the pressure Build up inside. We understood what was coming, Even though The wind was soft... The sun welcome above. Sat at the bottom Of a huge green hill Watching the dark roll in Like a tragic mood. You held my hand, Made a knot of little fingers, Smiled, and waited For it to come. Slowly It embraced our world. Closer ... Darker And the wind would begin Slapping at our shins... Washed the hair off our faces And touched within the spaces That were new born: Born into the storm. Taking on the storm... Standing against it: You and me and the threshold Of wind Stinging our eyes Tears of a storm-cry Rolled down fragile cheeks. We've not been as strong As we were then. Our hunger ravaged the sky Until it belonged to us only. You looked at me at grinned. Yes: wild and sunny, Though the sky was on fire And the air too heavy & warm. It was our only desire To weather the storm. Looking at our laughter Blown fast away, It never really mattered If the storm didn't stay. We knew it had flown Straight through our blood & bone... Always to be part of us. Always to be home. Home is where the heart was... My huge violent sky. My heart is what the storm does When the wind makes me cry. Our future felt its destiny In tempests of the unknown. We felt the black sky within As the pressure has grown. © 1997, Liz Patrick