Friendlier Somehow

As we were sitting down to supper suddenly it was lights out... 

The gale had blown down a hydro wire somewhere...it was a warm candle-light,

easy-going scrabble and soft laughter evening

A cold rain pelts the windowpane

The waning afternoon a train

Thundering through the stricken arc

Of tree limbs, hungry, stiff and stark

Where suddenly the fireside

Is friendlier at eventide

The tempest tugs the dark beneath

The bullied edge of hill and heath

As lights of home beam like a smile

Through gales raging, vexatious, vile

Where suddenly each face we see

Is love’s coveted luxury

For home is friendlier somehow

When dark is deep and wild winds howl

And we are more blessed than we thought

With hands to hold, soup in a pot

And while we list to tempests blow

Home’s friendliness humbles us so

© Janet Martin