The world is chaotic
When the sun blotches the sky
Eighty shades of red.

The hum and buzz ricochets off every tree,
Firing merciless bullets at my peace.

I don’t know why it’s silent now.

Now. Now, there’s only harmonious rustling of wind,
Swooshing.
It sounds like water and feels like it too
In my ears.
Listen.

There’s the persistent gravelly ocean sound
Of the nearby interstate,
Bustling with people that do not even bother to
Listen.

Animals, too. They want their songs to be heard.
A dynamic orchestra that
Crescendos
And
Diminuendos,
Directed by the motions of the swirling baton of
Heat and chill,
Comfort and dis.
Listen.

With eyes closed the world is so much clearer.
Listen.

The thunder booming inside the house.
The rain of cheeks on cheeks.
The air pressure building and colliding and pushing
A little girl to go outside and
Listen
To anything but that.

The neighbor’s growling dog,
Making the clawed fence open its eyes and groan in distaste -
Clearing its scratchy throat.
And I
Listen.

If the sounds could tell me a story, I would
Listen.

And they do. They tell me about a princess
Beneath a red sky
And the waterfall that soothes her throat
And the stomping armies of knights too absorbed in themselves too hear
And the animals that fix and flower her hair
And the thunder that cracks open her skies
And the growling of the dragon.
Listen.

The sounds tell good stories if you
Listen.
They tell the happily-ever-after ones.
Because no matter how
Red and
Loud and
Rainy
It may seem,
The princess will wake up another day
And see the red as
Ruby
And the loud as
Jubilee
And the rain as
Blessings.
Listen.