Tuesday, July 7, 2009

without my knowing

the weather colours the skies inside and outside my body.

it began with high clouds - broken and indecisive.

and then there was a sense of the beginnings of organization - fragmented and scalloped -but forming into something recognizable.
and sure enough the clouds climbed higher and higher and became a beautiful fragile wispy herringbone whimsy . . .

from that point on the sky was in turmoil, forming and unforming in towering grey and white massifs that passed through and over each other as if bent on getting somewhere. i saw a band of clouds form into one dark bruised mass across the sky.
the cloud-shadows lengthened, the skies grew closer. "surely this it". we took turns looking west to where the big dark clouds were forming and from where they were rapidly approaching.

the wind picked up. the leaves fluttered. branches waved and umbrellas, long abandoned on patios and decks, bent and flapped like broken-winged birds.

unforgiving, touching everything with its silvered blue silk fingers.

everything - and nothing - but the wind.

and so we sat and listened to it whistling its way through the hastily closed windows.

"i remember the day.
the heavy shower of rain is slackening into fitful pauses, renewed gusts of
wind startle it from a first lull.
i take up my instrument. idly i touch the strings, till, without my
knowing, the music borrows the mad cadence of that storm." rabindranath tagore

he knows. how easily and without my knowing, the skies inside and out exchange places.

12 comments:

Alexandra MacVean said...

Wow...what an amazing post this morning! Seriously.

"i take up my instrument. idly i touch the strings, till, without my
knowing, the music borrows the mad cadence of that storm."

To me...that says it all.

Have a good day and thank you for always taking the time to stop by. It means alot.

steven said...

hi amelia, i'm glad you liked tagore's poem. he's an amazing writer! i love watching the sky. through the summer my blog ends up getting more than its fair share of cloud pictures! have a peaceful day. steven

Reya Mellicker said...

Wow! This is incredible. Beautiful.

Herringbone, yes! How unusual.

I always say, the weather predicts me. Hope the storm has now passed within and without, leaving a clean, calm, sparkling clarity.

steven said...

hi reya, thanks for the generous compliment! the weather, the moon, the stars - they're as much a part of me as i am a part of them. but it's a funny thing that people tend to distance or ignore that where all other living things seem comfortable with it.
i wish you peacefullness reya. steven

Tess Kincaid said...

There's nothing like a good cleansing storm. I love the changes in the weather and seasons, don't you?

The Weaver of Grass said...

I love that poetry steven - and the sky pictures too - they are more dramatic than they would be in colour I thin.

steven said...

hellow weaver, you're right about that actually. i shifted them over to black and white just to have a look-see and i was pleased with what i saw. have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

hi willow, i really do love storms. i love sitting outside as they roll in and then when they really start banging and crashing and the rain is bucketing down, you'll find me out front of the house or on the back step. i've tried to share that experience with my children but they haven't developed the same appreciation - yet! have a peaceful day. steven

Delwyn said...

Hi Steven

Your wonderful photos crescendo into that last image where I can almost hear the thunder roaring in the distance as the storm announces its arrival.

Being in the subtropics we have storm seasons of incredible majesty, where we do sit and watch but usually indoors once it hits as they can be so turbulent and the volume of rain is immense. But it is hail we have to be wary off. Hail is preceded by clouds with a green tinge that build for hours in the south and slowly move in to devour all cars and people, if they are unfortunate enough to be caught on the beach...

My car has been pocked twice because I couldn't get undercover in time. And what a frightful din when you are in the car, fearing that the windscreen will smash with the sometimes golfball sized hail...

I have been enraptured By Mary Oliver and now am going to hunt down some poetry of Tagore - thank you...

Happy days

steven said...

hi delwyn, i remember when i was quite young and we were first moved to canada, that the storms seemed to be vast and angry. i have never seen a storm in the subtropics - your description leaves me wondering how i'd feel!!! perhaps not as brave as with these relatively tame little beasts we experience! i have readers in the far south of the united states who report very harsh weather including tornadoes. i can only imagine.
mary oliver and tagire - and i was just reading some rilke that absolutely blew me away. i love that writing my blog compels me to search - and then to share!! have a peaceful day delwyn. steven

Goldenrod said...

Clouds are fascinating, and your photos of those gathering were meaningfully sequential. We haven't had any rain here in such a long time! (Other parts of town have, but not mine.) Last night, before I left to teach my bridge class, I turned on the sprinkler in the back yard and just left it to "sprinkle away" for almost three hours. When I came back, there was a delightful fresh smell. Not one puddle. Not even a little one, that's how dry we are. :(

steven said...

hi goldenrod, you know what? i haven't used a sprinkler on my lawns for two years! honest!! now if that sounds like bragging it isn't. but it does point to two things worth thinking about.
one; it means that i'm using a lot less water which is a good thing.
two; it must be raining a whole lot more these last couple of years than it has in the previous twelve in which we've owned a house! have a peaceful day. steven