STORMS

After a childhood accident
I shared a room with three
girls at Graz’ children hospital.
One night with our window 
wide open a storm brewed
and uprooted some trees 
in the surrounding park.
None of the girls
dared to get out of bed,
by the time the night nurse 
rushed into our room
I had jumped out of bed
and shut the window,
happy to get up.
The only distractions 
were meals and visiting hours.
One of the girls in our room
was mostly sedated,
her head bandaged 
with some visible stitches 
around her mouth.
Her father came every day,
brought balloons and sweets
for all of us.

Later, I found out that 
the girl’s mother was psychotic and
attacked her children with an axe,
her brother didn’t survive.

I always enjoyed listening 
to thunder storms,
still love nighttime storms,
a reminder of life’s uprooting.

Silvia Kofler is a widely published poet, translator, and educator. Gambol the World:  Eine Weltanschauung was translated into Portuguese by Carlos Ramos and appeared as a bilingual edition from Ghost Editions, Portugal, 2021. The newest collection of her poems is Castles in the Air, from Spartan Press, 2026.