Santa Margherita, September 2002

We awoke in darkness.
Not a sliver of light anywhere.
Eyes open, pure black.
There was just the sound of the rain and a light wind,
water from the roof splattering on the stone terrace
outside the glass doors of our Villa Gnocchi bedroom.
Then, boom!
Thunder like we'd never heard before.
Thunder loud enough to make our bodies twitch
and our eyes pop open.
The rain came louder, too, followed by more thunder.
Again, and again, and again.
Then flashes of lightening.
At first I was able to count to nine
between lightning flash
and thunder clap.
Then zero.
Joanne's body tensed in my arms.
Finally the storm subsided.
Did it really last for hours?
I lay awake wondering when the dawn would come.
Eventually a little light peeked through the curtains.
It was our first time
in Italy.