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- 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.
- Gray sky has settled on the black and green earth.
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.