Storm

It's that moment

when we raise eyes to each other
as if for the first time

the way you do when the storm is rising
and it is time to go, or stay, or something

the questions begin to breathe, take life
are you okay, and what do we do

you suddenly see another
and so many others
on a lonely planet spinning in space

stranger and friend strangely the same
you search each face the way you search your child's eyes
behind her expression and beyond her words for some piercing truth

caught in the tide, we have a small grasping chance
to save self and other in the same moment

and if we should survive it
to understand something new about how to become more
human.

08/21/2019