wind

Opening the French doors
you paused
to listen
for the last time
to the newscaster
Warning!

Silence around you
and the sound of
panicked monarch butterflies
flitting past your head
newly hatched
and naive again
learning how to function
in a new body

This wasn't good,
you thought

The wind began to
lick the threshold
soft and violent;
more chaos whipping
anything
loose
like a cat innocuously
pushing cups
off a table

An invisible force
ready to hurt you
with glee
without letting anyone know
it had ever been there

It was too hard
to close the door
after that;
rats and raccoons
and half dead squirrels
sought shelter
behind you
like bullied children
fleeing a monster

The acorns they stored
to live off of
became projectiles
you had to dodge;
You ate as many
as you could

There was no safety
in storage or waiting,
just a higher chance of death
from homegrown bullets

You'd sacrifice
your beehive
this time
knowing you'd never
get it back;
the wasps would replace them
and you'd have no solace
in knowing they lived
in your wreckage