What If Lightning Strikes

My friend says he floats
A step above the world
And swoops his hand
Across the ground
I stand on

Like a feather
He lands on still water
And barely registers
His arrival

Then he blows away
Desperate to rejoin
The bird
That he dropped from

What if lightning strikes?
Do you scream?
Do you wonder why?
Do you lay down
Gracefully
And die?

Eight thousand leaves fell
On the first stormy day
From the old oak tree

She stood naked
And her tattered clothes
Stuck themselves in the mud
And disappeared

She dug her roots in
And refused to smile
'Til she was properly clothed

And her teeth chattered all winter
Inside her mouth
And she never laughed once
Though the wind howled
All about her

No, she never laughed once
Though the snow
Tickled her sides

What if lightning strikes?
Do you scream?
Do you wonder why?
Do you take
A moment
To say goodbye?

What if lightning strikes?
Do you scream?
Do you wonder why?
Do you lay down
Gracefully
And die?