The olde barn

The Olde Barn,        {concluded}

On hot and sultry summer nights,
I'd watch the white clouds pile,
and brace my frame for storms
which might be wild and vile.

At first a calm, No leaf dare stir.
               nor devils of the dust.
Then com'st a whispering wind,
a wise man would never trust,
for shelter soon,
 he must seek,
from winds and rain he must!

Dust devils no long swirl,
up and down the garden  path.
They're now brought low,
to resign their fate,
to the coming tempest's wrath.

Tumbling weeds are pressed fast,
against the picket fence.
Til tomorrows sun can dry their spiny legs and then,
gentle zephyrs roll them to and fro,
in this the world of men.

Sparrows fly up to my eaves and then.
snuggle there for rest secure,
 . . . . . . . . . . . .as chicks beneath a hen.      

  HAAARRRKKK! . . . . HAAA RRR KKK ! ! ! ! ! ! ,  . . . . . . . . .
                                   HEAR THE MIGHTY ROAR! . . . .
 . . . . . . .  . . . BELCHING FIRE, THE THUNDER GUN,
ECHOS BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE SKY,
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FROM EAST TO SETTING SUN.

The sky is dark, but rays of sun,
reflect from the white clouds there,
formed by jet-stream winds,
. . . . . . . . . high in the stratosphere.

More often now, the HEAVENLY VAULT,
 . . . . . is cleaved and rended through!
Lightning paints the trees, the rocks,
 . . . . . . . . . a COLD AND PURPLE HUE.

NOW, AS A TIDAL WAVE,  SWEEPING O'ER THE LAND,
THE RAINS CAME ON TO DROWN ME,
                                     IT FELT MUCH AS LIQUID SAND.

AGAIN CAME THE WINDS,
                                     LASHING ME WITH THEIR WHIP.
I HUNKERED LOW TO MEET THE BLOW,
                      I SHUDDERED EVERY BEAM.
       I FEARED THAT MY RIBS WOUD GO,
AND I'D BE TORN FROM SEAM TO SEAM.

MY ROOF HEAVED UP, MY WALLS CAVED-IN,
THEN THEY BUCKLED BACK; . . . . . . . . . . . .
IT ROARED AS THIS FOR HOURS AND HOURS,
THE TEMPEST NEVER SLACK.

FOR ME AND THOSE WITHIN MY SHELL,
 . . . . . . . . . . . . WE THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER END,
AND FOR US,  IT WAS A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO SPEND.

 . . . . . . . ABOUT MID-MORN, THE NEXT DAY ON;
. . . . . . .  .. . . . . . . . .THE GALE ITSELF 'OUT-BLEW' . . . . .  
WE WERE REALLY GLAD IT WAS OVER,'
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JUST TWEEN 'ME AND YOU':

                                ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~