Master of Disguise

A blowhard, pretender, bully, cheat
threat and soother, its many guises and
intentions sober and confuse its victims
who are on occasion its beneficiaries. A
master of disguise and guile both, a
powerfully belligerent force and a tranquil
companion, occasions vary as do those
personae illuminating the complexity
irascibility and moodiness of the wind.
It is always there, at times covertly biding
its time out of sight, hearing and tension 
until it awakens roaring and bellowing
through treetops, invading unprotected
crevices, allying itself with rain and snow
to ensure that inclement days of freezing
temperatures morbidly threaten creatures
unprepared to defend themselves from
its intemperate excesses. Reverting to
its impudent stage as a tease, relaxing
its rages to become a gentle breeze one
takes nothing for granted. The gentle
cooling of a midsummer breeze weighed
against the lashing of downpours inundating
fields and drowning crops, all manifestations
of the wind's roles upon nature's stage.
Here, in the forest, nudging snow-laden
boughs to surrender their burden in a
white-veiled ectoplasmic spill.  Here in
the forest an abrasively violent thrust
to fell a hollow tree, the wind reigns.