Cloud Burst – Herbert Witheford

Cloud Burst – Herbert Witheford

The fuchsia and I seem happy now.
Up from the sun-hard soil the rain is bouncing
And lightning bursts out of the afternoon.
The radio
Crackles with anger much more lively than the dim
Threats of peace-loving statesmen that it drowns.
Closer
Reverberations. Flower-pots overflow.
Even the heart
Has burst it calyx of anxieties;
The spouting
Cascades superbly into two brown shoes
Put carefully – by someone else – out in the yard.
The lightning makes a difference to the room.


O'Sullivan, V. (Ed.). (1979). An anthology of twentieth century New Zealand poetry. Wellington: Oxford University Press.