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.