After The Storm

Written by Anxiang Olson Gao

After a deep sleep, is born an unproductive day

The rain died out so children came out to play.

Your storm didn’t calm, but the one outside did

The colorful green-red landscape outside was liquid

But the one under your eyelids didn’t seem as vivid,

So you ran outside

Meeting daylight’s face

Left the room and its dark space

But there was something out here that felt out of place.

It wasn’t the lush grass patches,

Thriving after the grip of night deadened.

It wasn’t the wispy tinted clouds above

Flying and returning like qualms or doves.

It wasn’t the sky soaked in its bloodbath

Wounded by the sun’s wrath

The storm prior causing the warpath

The red coloring the bypath.

Not thinking of what disturbed you,

You sat on the train as it went away

But never appreciated the never more beautiful day.

You’re at the park today

The sky is now persian-blue

What used to be a blood-red gradient sky

Has changed to a different hue

But looking at it still did not intrigue you.

The air around you is at its best

It tastes of the fragrance from the trees nearby

With the moistness from the tears of the clouds

The trees beside you together swayed

While the bright song of the birds came out from the growth

Rippling through the air like grass around you in the breeze

You were swimming in your thoughts

Your mind was caught up in knots

You looked at your surroundings trying to break away

But never appreciated the beautiful day.