Hatred is a hammer,
pounding dry scarred earth.
Dust covered hands
wield the tool.
Burnt orange haze,
a badge of honor for the vile.
Black boots tread the surface
marring the once smooth ground,
resting the hammer.
Another swing.
Another blow.
The ground,
crumbled cracked,
grasps for itself,
pulling tugging hoping
for a healing rain.
The ground weeps
the hands pull back
bringing down the hammer,
again and again.
Fractured earth
steels itself for one more blow,
a final impact it won’t withstand.
Storm clouds roll across the open sky,
dark and thick
swollen
face fought wrought
with the promise of rain.
Thunder cracks.
Skies shed their tears.
Fat drops plummet to the earth
dousing, drenching.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Sorrow soaking silent strikes sizzling death.
The hammer falls.
Powerless without hands
to hold the handle
to swing the tool
to fuel the hate.
Sheets of rain sweep the plain
washing over broken places,
healing the earth yet—
leaving it forever changed.
The hatred chased away,
for now,
the storm clouds sigh.
Blue sky peeks out between
broken and bruised thunderclouds.
Hints of sunshine
drying the sky’s tears,
mending the earth’s wounds.
Dark clouds in the wings,
giving the sun center stage.
A promise from above,
a trickle of hope.
Golden orb echoes the moon.
Light the night, ever watching,
a sentinel,
to chase away the darkness.
Melissa McArthur teaches college writing, works as a freelance editor at Clicking Keys, writes twice monthly for Magical Words, and tells stories. Her current publications include a short story, “The Chase,” in An Improbable Truth: The Paranormal Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published by Mocha Memoirs Press, the Maggie the Gatherer series, and “A Salem Secret” in Shadows in Salem published by FunDead publications. She has more stories set to release in late 2016 and early 2017.
Melissa is utterly fascinated by books; she believes that there’s something magical about holding them in your hand and watching as the words disappear and the story unfolds before your eyes. She hopes that she can do that for readers both as an editor and a writer—create stories that engulf you, change you, scare you, bewilder you, make you laugh, make you cry, and through stories, reveal deeper truths about life.
Web: www.melissamcarthur.net and www.clickingkeys.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/melissamcarthurwrites and www.facebook.com/writerservices
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mcarthur_me and www.twitter.com/clicking_keys
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/melissamcarthurwrites
