Seeing Thunder

"Seeing Thunder" by Yonah ben-Avraham - lightning over mountains

A jolting crash, deep and resonant
resounding tone spiraling and tracing
like a rake through jeweled sand
swirling around the temples
finding home in the bled-out edges of its self-drawn sphere of bronze

Within a splintered tenor, chiming
a hollow crack
ice splitting as glaciers grind apart
and rush cascading back to join the sea
note ringing, clearing static
currents dance with drums and flutes
firelight licking the walls of caves
glancing out and
carving space from ink and crystal

a song chanted
sung between a mountain
and its roots
dissonant bars
falling up to and from
the base of the hanging rock
suspended in one moment
held tightly,
echoes in the heart

face goes numb
forehead first
right cheek
edge of the chin
breath caught, pushed aside
pressure surges, swells in the chest
eyes close against the tension

streams of color fill the dark
swim before the backs of eyelids
teeming, bioluminescent algae
knit to curve and follow
the veins of each wave
self-contained at a glance
feeding into each other from
the corner of the eye
unnoticed, united
the likeness of an image of a symphony

all at once it’s over
and here we stand, shaking
shattered
born in lightning

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