Lightning

I find lightning storms alluring. The camera flashes in the sky with more power then any mining technology or explosive technician can harness. A forked purple thread snaking from the sky seeking you out to strike you down for no other reason than you were the tallest poppy in the field. There are advantages to being a small poppy.

And I am aware of the danger of lightning. Risk of major fires and electrocution and property damage. But I find it wonderful to feel so powerless. So meek in the face of the random lightshow published by our planet and guided by physics. Clouds so big and dark and thick that you know there's lightning in there but only because of the glow of purple like a luminescent and transient oedema.

I know that owing to the storm there are now people risking their lives to save properties and bushland from inferno. I care about them. And I also am allowed to marvel at this force. My enjoyment of it is not linked to its proliferation. Only in a fairytale where some omnipotent figure answers my prayers can that be true. It is random and all the more enjoyable because of it. It might be tomorrow or next week or next decade that I witness its like again.

I look forward to it.

Tom