Thunderstorm

The painting finished
 Five years ago
 “It can’t be,” you say.
 “Oh, but it was.
 You remember that evening,” I say.

 We sat on the Intracoastal at sunset, Looked toward the ocean
 To see giant towers –
 Smooth and round, mounded Sky miracle,
 Glowing gold and orange with Diamond flashes of charged sparks.
 Gaea was throwing a temper tantrum out toward the Bahamas.

 You and I, that second year -
 Of a new life shared together,
 So lucky to have retired
 Before bubble burst
 And that storm
 Tore through the nation
 Man made destruction
 By Capitalist speculators
 Bankers and Idiot builders.

 Lightning and thunder
 Mother of man
 Wearing her electrified cloud crown.
 Lightning and thunder,
 Man wearing his dunce cap -
 Thank God we had the luck,
 Avoided their blunder.

 “We’ve never won a thing,” I say.
 “Oh but yes we have,” you say.

 Oh, but it was
 Five years ago
 That I painted
 “Thunderstorm.”