Storm on the Island

• "We are prepared: we build our houses squat,

  Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate."
• "This wizened earth has never troubled us

  With hay, so, as you see, there are no stacks

  Or stooks that can be lost."
• "— Nor are there trees

  Which might prove company when it blows full

  Blast: you know what I mean — leaves and branches

  Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale"
• "So that you can listen to the thing you fear

  Forgetting that it pummels your house too."
• "... spits like a tame cat

  Turned savage."
• "We just sit tight while wind dives

  And strafes invisibly ..."
• "Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear."
• "Space is a salvo,

  We are bombarded by the empty air."
• "Exploding comfortably down on the cliffs"