Taking Shelter

by Peter Roberts

clouds

ripe & heavy

fill silent air.

like a swarm of tiny insects, wind

crawls across my exposed skin.

i take shelter in a cave.

animals -- bison, mammoths,

sabertooths -- run haltingly

across the rough walls in the firelight.

outside

a rain begins.

lightning blooms &

in an instant dies;

thunder shakes the earth.

i squat

at the fire's warmth.

thick smoke stirs memories

of warm meat. my stomach

is an empty ache.