3. Welcome, Earl

The storm has arrived,
and I feel no distress
fifty miles inland
and comfortable here
on high,
dry ground.

This is just exactly how it is
for most of us,
isn't it?

Right up until...

Yet somehow we manage to believe
that we are safe
and okay

(unless we've been shown
otherwise,
then we struggle to ever
feel safe or
okay again)

because we have to believe
to go on.

The lion hasn't taken me
not because
I am
a father of three
or fierce
or deserving of reprieve.

It's only because
she
hasn't seen me
when she's
hungry.

What we call the Grace of God
terrifies.

These
delicate lives,
thin hopes,
brittle loves...

protect them,
please.