For an Absent Friend

(For Ross and for Clark; gone too soon, a day apart)

You can’t catch lightning in a bottle, even if it’s as big inside as a Tardis. 

You can’t capture thunder in your hands; 

ride the stretching of tectonic plates like they were electronic bulls,

or tsunamis like the Silver Surfer flying on galactic winds. 

You can’t harness the elements any more than you can turn the Apocalyptic Horses into a team to hitch your wagon to a star. 

And yet, how else does one understand how some rare people seem to accomplish all the above and walk away laughing. 

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 19 June 2020