Day 23 - 2.18.2013

Prompt for: February 18, 2013
Subject or Theme: Earth, Air, Fire, Water (It's elemental, my dear!)
Word(s) to Include: diverge (or any derivative of the word)
Forbidden Word(s): Earth, Air, Fire, Water (or any derivatives of the words)
Additional Parameters: Minimum 20 lines.

Aeolus Rising

I
Derecho, fueled by changing pressures
whips from low to high, Straight line, no divergence,
forced ever faster. Pushing all before it, clearing the path
for what lies behind. Stronger than the ancient oak,
bark shatters, wood splinters: a hundred years
of cyclic growth ends on a whisper of leaves,
a groan of tearing heartwood, a sigh of settling.

II
Nor'easter flies furious,
a child’s scream of terror battering at the door;
crawling under eaves, slicing to the quick.
Relentless Boreas,
finding the smallest of crannies to whistle through.
Pushing snow and sleet sideways;
additional battering rams
against the unprepared and weary.

III
Chinook roars down
the frozen mountainside.
Flight or fright: It is ravenous,
hungry: the snow-eater comes—
feeding on the cold,
devouring its prey;
ice teeth no match for the maw of Foehn
and then, when sated,
leaves false warmth behind.

IV
Zephyr seduces with
placid breezy embraces,
makes love: enveloping one
with sweet caresses.
A gentle kiss spreading
afterglow—chimes musically touched
in the night as if by a shadow
to then sleek off
in search of another.

V
Keeper of the Winds,
Hippotades, who holds the reins
of the four horses,
who gathers or lets run free
stallion winds of winter;
filly breezes of the spring,
coltish ayres* of summer
and the high strung mares of autumnal days.
Aeolus, who with mighty fist
controls movement of that which gives us life or
with gentle fingers plays lyric harp:
harken back to Astraeus
and let the currents ease on by.

Note by author: On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air.
*ayre - a musical form of the mid 1600s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YOoUoPKHk