Lay of the Land: Competitor Entry for 2012 Attys

sonnet: "The Deluge"

sonnet:  "The Deluge"

A wall of water fifty fathoms high

Appeared on the horizon to my horror,

Created when a distant mountainside

Dissolved into the ocean with a roar.

It was as if the Great Bull in the sky,

Stampeding in a herd with thousands more,

Had been turned loose upon the countryside

To trample and engulf the valley floor.

I did not flinch, betrayĕd no alarm,

Ignored the screaming of the panicked throng;

Resolved to meet the deluge face to face, 

I gathered my beloved in my arms,

Releasing tears she’d dammed up for so long,

As, sobbing, she dissolved in my embrace.