Clouds and Over-coming

There was a moment I remember so vividly I wrote a poem about it. It was late fall, and I was embroiled in issues--most of them stemming from graduate school. This moment likely dictated the way I viewed the following scene.

Evening clouds from an earlier storm were like gray cotton in a darkening sky. The sun finally made an appearance, though it was mostly from under the clouds. It's light gave the clouds dark smoky coral highlights. It made the clouds look scary-beautiful. At the top of a hill I was walking, I saw the sun's rays beaming behind a set of clouds, lining its edges with a burning bright light. I finally understood the phrase "every cloud has a silver lining" upon seeing it.

I was so struck by this imagery that I could not help but eventually construct the following poem yet to be titled:

Every cloud is lined with a bright burning light

Showing us that the sun is there shining, waiting

The contours of the clouds show us their complexity

Shaping and being shaped by the elements—even the sun

Clouds serve as barriers to the sun and sky

Barriers like those that are socially constructed 

Giving off the appearance of stone

When they are nothing more than clouds

Shaping and being shaped

We know they cannot, do not block the sun forever

So too with barriers

Which is why we must

Keep reaching

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I hope it's as inspirational to others as it has been for me.  

Until next time...