Gray Sky Morning

 

Gray sky has settled on the black and green earth.

Muted edge of tree silouettes soften the horizon

as subdued light is the day's beginning.

 

A thunderstorm comes borne on the wind.

Lightning charges the morning sky.

Rolling thunder shakes free gray cloud moisture.

 

Rain falls to the parched country soil.

No sun will cure a prairie hay lying in a meadow.

Stacks across the hills piled to shed the wet.

 

Shorebirds probe in the mud of a marsh.

Small flocks scurry for an edible bit...

...run and feed at this drying wetland.

 

Wet crickets sing on the ground.

Grass and cattail dance in a northern wind.

Final strokes flash as fading thunder echos.

 

Fog clears to bring bright white.

Blue sky is gray sky gone.

 

Written September 11, 1991 at Carson Lake. ©1991 Jim Ducey.

Jim Ducey. May 15, 1998. Gray sky morning. In: Wetlands. Understanding a resource. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water Center. p. 3.