When Your Storm Comes

Lilacs in September by Katha Pollitt via Patti Digh

Shocked to the root
like the lilac bush
in the vacant lot
by the hurricane–

whose black branch split
by wind or rain
has broken out
unseasonably

into these scant ash-
colored blossoms
lifted high
as if to say

to passersby
What will unleash
itself in you
when your storm comes?

What will unleash itself in you when your storm comes? 

Do you already know? Does that knowledge make you proud, or ashamed? 

Or are you afraid to find out?