Sarah Slate, a senior at Peoples Academy High School, says she has always loved thunderstorms and wanted to convey "the wild beauty of a storm" in this piece. "The mix of rain and thunder and lightning...it's perfect, almost like a dance. To honor the first real thunderstorm of the season, I wanted to put what I felt into words."

The moment of the storm

By Sarah Slate

Grade 12, Peoples Academy High School, Morrisville

The thick, dark clouds roll down the mountainside,
Leaping and twisting and turning to their hearts' content.
Rain droplets lose their grip and are flung away,
Flying through the air until Mother Earth catches them.
Lightning and thunder dance, caught up in their own transfixing tempo,
Making up new steps as they twirl across the land.
The trees sway to their ancient music,
Gentle hands raised up as if praising the gods.
The tiny humans stand mesmerized, stuck on the ground,
Their souls longing to join the Moment of the Storm.