Natural Apprehensions

Bedrooms suddenly fully illuminated,
daylight has somehow returned to deep
night, brightening the atmosphere in brief
and startling flashes of pure energy.
Another long, deep rumble of thunder and
succeeding lightning slashes the sky.
Dense, deep black of space and night
interrupted by relentless light displays.

Children awaken from deep sleep,
wondering, alarmed and fearful, to cry
for reassurance that the familiarity
of their normal world of day and night;
deeply dark quiet, is not in threat of
vanishing, leaving them alone, vulnerable,
abandoned, taut with disbelieving fear.

Parents, themselves shaken and perturbed
by the volatile violence, the thunderous
threats and mind-jarring claps, succumb
briefly to their own primal fears. Such is the
onus, the compelling force of a parent's
concern, that doubts are flushed by the
need to confidently convey assurances.
To bring comfort to children's fears.

Instill in their apprehensions awe and
regard for Nature's dominant presence;
the reality that we must accommodate
ourselves to pressures of climate, geography,
atmosphere and weather conditions. All
manifestations of Nature's design and will
that we will experience as her creatures.


Yet force majeur, that magnificent and
deadly power of Nature's omnipresence,
attributes and proclivities, has since time
immemorial invested in her beings a deep,
vestigial and resonating caution, readily
transformed into incandescent trepidation.

We reassure the child, return the sleepy
head to its pillow, as we return to ours,
nervously hearing out the receding, and then
returning storms, repeating their pattern
of thunder, lightning, torrential rainstorms
through the balance of the night. The last
of the more remote strikes herald a new day.

On the morn, the sun will shine in a sky
unblemished by clouds. The house will be
illuminated rationally by the breaking dawn.
A new day greets and is greeted by carefree
children eager and ready to breakfast, disport
themselves, seek adventure and mischief.

The gardens are well irrigated, colours
brilliantly enhanced. The fragrance of a
rain-sodden environment fresh and
appealing. We embark with confidence
instilled through repetition. Nature has fairly
redeemed herself, and trust has returned.