warning signs by Sariah Lake (15, British Virgin Islands)

you can tell there is a storm coming
from the way she stays awake,
sleepless until the house empties
and there's no one but her and the dark.

you can tell there is a storm coming
from the way she does not cry at all;
everything is silent, rainless,
a haunting imminence.

---

but the storm isn't always the breaking
of things nor the hollow screaming wind;
sometimes it is the breathless cry at midnight
or the sudden first drop.

and isn't that just like her? a hurricane
without a storm, the quietest crash you've 
ever heard.