Prelude to the Storm

The billowing grey clouds
black-and purple-tinged
with the clear and present
promise of descent into
sound-and-fury loom above
the verdant canopy of the
forest, bathed in early
twilight where an eerie silence
prevails, preluding the storm
to burst the clouds and drench
the atmosphere. Silence is
broken by the shrill cry of
a hawk as it coasts on the
wind ushering in the rain.
No reward for this raptor
until the rain is stilled and
vapour rises from the 
inundated forest and its
creatures venture out of
their shelters to pursue
the normal business of
their kind; those that browse
and those that fly in ardent
and ultimately successful
bloody pursuit of prey.