fealty

with weariness
you turn to the
coming tempest

your face etched
with enduring, your shoulders
tense with accepting

I watch you
ready yourself for the
menacing pain

and I weep

I cannot stop
the baying winds that
threaten, the

shrieking fury
that nears, my impotence
total, complete

but I will not
run; if you must meet
this unbending

tomorrow,

you will not welcome it

alone