Something in the sound of strong wind
and thunder
could make a Kansas man wonder
what happened to the calendar;
this is not the stuff of February,
not here on the cusp of the plains
and the Dakotas so close.

The two inches of rain
they say is on its way here
is not the sort of storm
we normally expect
the day after Groundhog Day.

But, we know,
if we endure the temporary
of something other than expectation,
life has its way of turning back
to the ways that need less explanation.

And in those other situations,
like tornadoes and cancer,
we sometimes learn that our strength
is greater than we thought

and comes closer to what we believed.

H. Arnett
2/3/12