A quiet rush

Expectant hush

As the laptop flickered white

The mind perturbed

My world disturbed

To unleash the storm inside

A settled list

A trembling wrist

At the numbered goals ahead

One furious thrum

And frantic hum

Were the nerves that climbed my head

A hunter’s net-

The timer set

The numbers, cruel and wild

Their choking reel

A haunting feel

A monster to a child

The button flicked

A pause, it clicked

A second to pretend

Then life went on

The moment, gone

I’d only now to spend

And so, I wrote

The words afloat

No idea where they might land

The story spun

The plan, undone

Unraveled in my hand

Forgotten space,

Lines out of place,

As the hurricane appeared

The keys kept time

To the shaking rhyme

Of the rain I once revered

A thundering cry

Led the prose awry

My fingers came to rest

And the timer laughed

At my frightening draft

Its ending soon was pressed

The shock came close

A sudden boast

Not bad for off-the-cuff

The silence, sweet

The job, complete

Imperfect, yet enough

The page a comfort, the clock a friend

A sudden will to try again.