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Hurricane Helene
Some lost their lights, the brilliance
Electricity, burning through the night
Inviting, inspiring, igniting our lives.
Some lost their water, the gentle flow
Source of hope and wonder, graceful
Moving over the spirit, sweet fulfillment.
Some lost their ability to communicate
Cell phones grew quiet, the internet – silent
Most felt some anxiety, lonesome, isolated.
Some lost their food as frozen staples melted
While cold goods became a luxury, an indulgence,
Canned goods were the staple for most stomachs.
Some lost their way home, left without roads or bridges,
Waters turned streets to lanes, highways to mere paths,
And, everywhere – it seems, the landscape was changed.
Some lost their houses and barns, their business and farm,
Even the hay, the feed – it was gone, leaving the horses forlorn,
Yet, we still struggled on – listening to the hymns, the old songs.
Some lost their peace in the storm, their serenity was gone,
But, in time, tranquility returned and the heart – more strong,
Feeling like hope had returned, with the last sprinkles of rain.
Oh, but some lost so very much more – their friend, their family,
The ones they love and depend on, the ones that God called home,
These are the hearts who know true loss, the horror of the hurricane.
Helene, you were merely rain for some,
While you changed lives, changed hearts,
You taught us what if feels like in a war…
Only this war, it was nature’s fight – a struggle that felt so sorrowful,
A struggle that left us with a world upturned,
A struggle that can’t begin to be forgotten…
Because the aftermath of this storm is something only God can relieve!
Pray, my friend, because only God can silence the darkness nature breathed…. When hurricane Helene came to NC!
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Stronger Than The Storm (haibun) Buckets of rain, boisterous as thunder, wrecked September’s farewell, flooding the mountains, the hills, the rivers and creeks. Wild and livid, coloring the air in streaming tears, erasing the faintest feel of a hopeful prayer. The moment spun out of control and I could feel my heart breaking, my mind quaking, my spirit shaking, as the mountain slid beneath the waters who weren’t necessarily hungry for their trees, but still, the rain forced the oaks, the pines, the birch, to uproot and slide with the same dark fury as the rest of the dirt, the mounds of black earth, slithering, slipping, skating to a place it wasn’t meant for. Sometimes on the tops of houses, other times on the tops of roads, always into moments they had never reckoned for. The despair tore through my mind, wiping out the rain and time stood still, quieting the roaring that was too loud to miss. Yes, I missed it. The sound was gone. All I could hear in my ear was the monotonous rain, pouring out its dread, its deafening rage, stilling my hopes and causing me to fear something that was so beyond my control. So wild and so violent. I saw Hurricane Helene change my whole world, the world of so many who knew her pen, and still, I found a way to shed her shadow and disengage her haunting. I found a way as so many others did. While the mountain slid and my heart felt afraid like it never had, I knew that the strength of mountain hearts would go on and on because God is still more powerful than her pen. So, even though I can’t erase her permanent ink, I can say, though I’m changed, I know what it means to let go and let God, to still believe that life is good. rain dripping, clinging ricocheting on waters remaining brutal
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Never Give Up Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength. –Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the United States A year of heartbreak, soundless as the stars who glitter, surreal, remembering while we make our wishes, feel the darkness surrounding, gentling at best… the beautiful kiss of a lonely death, fatalities sitting in heaven, never listening to the falling rain, all the clouds, the edges of each shadow, forbidding my heart this feeling, so insane… hurricane helene, with her deafening embrace left hearts without the rhythm of hope that quiets the soul, when the thunder leaves its witness to the darkness’ demonic twist, the unending silence from a storm, the risk imagine a world standing still, awkward without her joyful voice, darkened by fears, tears, and despair, all the dismay that comes to those who witness the heavens pouring out not only the flow of rain, but the waters so explosive they are truly a hurricane – hurricane Helene writing her story on our land, fighting the mountains, filling lives with her shouts, seeking to break us, with her screams and her roar, as she raises our waters, our creeks and our rivers, brings mudslides that change us forever… oh, what a story she’ll write in her journal about the day she touched down on this quiet, quaint home – Western North Carolina no, we’ll never be the same… there will always be a hesitation when the rain begins, an anxious foreboding, apprehension of what might become another Helene, another hurricane, another rain who silences every soul with the breath of a tempest so out of control…. oh, my, what a tale these mountains could expose, a story of darkness, a story of dread, a story of fear that is filled with regrets… how we will remember Helene I believe… is the storm who reminded we must always seek the One who created us to believe, without His protection, we’re a people without any peace, we’re a people without hope or grace, we’re a people who life will replace, with death, darkness, disgrace, all the reasons that storms rage, all the reasons that we have to abide… in the love of the Father, the hope of the light, the peace of God’s Son, who will heal those of us, who’ve been touched by the storm who taught us… we must never give up!
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Helene, the afterglow
Shouting, over the sounds of rain, feelings
more commanding than the season’s pain
erasing the hope from hearts, but who’s to blame
for the night’s lure in pieces of yesterdays
wondering, unclear which prayer to plead
will the season tell her story in dark – it feels insane
no more moments – winds tell the still night
burning with fires more potent than starlight
soft chills reflect what it means to regret her gusts
will her heart piece together the memories,
the regrets, all those mementos we can’t forget
will time be able to silence the sound of rumbling
roaring creeks, colored with the quiet, unmoving
stagnant murmurs piercing through the skies
heavy hearts, weary from nature’s power, her outburst
darkening the heavens with a charcoal glimpse
into the eternal where the light surely went
erasing the blessings of a glory in the gentle breeze
this is the music of pain, the story of God’s rain
falling over the mountains in hesitant blows
revealing the shadows of a feeling hope knows
when the tears bled through the clouds in the dusty
rising of the raging waters, sometimes muddy
like the grief, other times filled with distant relief
beyond the heaps of ridges and rising convictions
there is a story, bleeding like leftover poems
fading in and out, on the wind’s song, her tale
a vision of what must become love and grace
the secret praise, where the heart meets with faith
and there is the assurance that we’ve been saved
hurricanes may come and winds surely blow
but there is One who holds the heart’s hopes
there is One who has a purpose, a reason so steady
beyond this place called earth, erasing suspicions
there are those who love despite every conviction
these are the loves who know He never forgets us
when we go to Him with humble faith
He blesses our souls and the heart breaks
from seeing beyond the moment, to forever
everlasting peace, everlasting completion
this is the beauty of knowing Jesus,
with Him beside me, fears are washed away
by the warmth of a love that will always stay
His is a love that brings the light of day
His is a hope that seeks to make a way
His is a faith that causes me to say…
eternally, my heart and soul belong to Him
who reveals the wonder, the miracle
of love that is endless
love that convicts
love that protects
love that accepts
His love is the answer that keeps me filled with dreams
His love is the story of what it means to be saved
from my past, from all the downcast
from the fears and tears - with Him, I find my prayers are heard and answered – He is eternal and blesses to the utmost.
Without this man named Jesus, Helene would have left me dismayed
but because I know this Savior, I have a hope that keeps me encouraged
I have a love that decides to listen to the rain –
despite the shadows that came from the pain
of those dark days during the hurricane!
When All Is Said and Done
She lost her home
She lost her ‘stuff’
She lost heart – but was still tough.
When all was said and done,
She reached out to the Son -
She knew some tears and fears
But love would sing into her ears.
While night seemed so hard,
Hope shined through her lifeguard.
She lost her home
She lost her ‘stuff’
She lost heart – but remained tough.
It all happened on the day of the flood,
When so many tasted fear’s blood.
Despite the tragedy, despite the dread
She was holding on by a single thread…
She clung to the thread of His coat,
Through the dark waters, He’d keep her afloat.
She trusted in the One who came to save
With love and hope, her way He’d pave
She wasn’t just a victim of the flood
She was covered by the Savior’s blood
Because she knew the One who arose
Her joy and purpose always shows.
She lost her home
She lost her ‘stuff’
She hurt, but remained tough…
One of the victims of Helene’s devastation
Come to shake our very foundation
Despite the wreckage and all it’s debris
She knew the Father and this is the key –
To overcoming all the worst loss.
Because there is One who died on a cross,
But when the time came, He rose again…
To prepare hearts for their final amen.
She lost her home
She lost her ‘stuff’
She lost so much, but remained tough…
She remained tough!