The Old Abandoned Barn

A barn that has long been abandoned, acts as a shelter for the many animals in the forest, as a storm threatens to ravage the countryside.

Black clouds umbrella the countryside

And erupt and rumble with rage

Seeking to blind all beneath them

Beating down like drums.

One might ponder 

Had God revoked His promise?

The wolves howled no more

For the moon was busy hiding

From the coming onslaught.

The wind sought to tear at the Earth

To bow and bend it to its will and whim.

And the birds of the sky

Were now the raptors of the ground.

In the center of this squall

Was the old abandoned barn

Long overrun by vines and weeds.

But tonight

And only tonight

It was a magnet

And every creature made of iron

Inch by inch, the journey trek

Didst they collapse so they might rest.

Rabbits scurry

While foxes hurry

The owl and mouse lay side by side.

Tomorrow they are enemies.

But not tonight.

The wind and might grew stronger still.

The structure rattled, creaked and moaned

And tried to hold off the bitter hail

To act as Atlas pushing against heaven weeping.

It may not hold

Mother Nature on the wrath tonight

Sought for victims far and wide

No mercy for the young or old

She ripped up burrows, trees, and vales

With her bare hands

Combing with her fingernails

Searching

Hunting

For

Her

Prey

But the old barn

Was hidden from her view

For she’d overrun it long ago

Her search continued long throughout the night

Desperate to find something

Anything

But when her search came up empty

She gave up

And moved on.

The coming dawn peeked over the hilltop

To see if the coast was clear

It was

So he began to rise.

One by one the animals didst scurry

To see if their home survived the night.

And there it lied.

Alone again.

The old abandoned barn.

Water droplets dripping from its roof.

Useful once.

But not today.

And maybe not again.