PAD: Damage

April is National Poetry Month. I’m celebrating with Writer’s Digest’s Poem a Day Challenge. Today’s theme is “damage.”

Lightning Bark

One rainy night

the storm stabbed down a blazing spear

striking a young oak

tracing a dark line

Over time

exposed inner bark

scarred into a rough froth

the tree grew sound

and strong

reaching for the sun

until another strike

from a falling limb

revealed another darkness

a streak of rot

hidden

damage

overcome but never forgotten