Accident!

                                                   Bill Coulter
THREE WORD WEDNESDAY
http://threewordwednesday.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/3ww-clxxxi/
 suggests the words
shard, pulse and weary

I'm afraid it's melodramatic, but the words lent themselves to melodrama! 


ACCIDENT!

It was the night of the storm that it happened.
We were sheltering in the church porch.
There was thunder and lightning and hailstones
And our one source of light was the torch.
Mandy was right by the window
The one with the angelic theme,
When a lightning-bolt flashed and exploded
And Mandy let-out a great scream!
The window had smashed into pieces;

And a great shard had pierced Mandy's chest

She lay on the ground quite unconscious!

What could I do for the best?

I felt for her pulse! She was living.

I let-out a sob of relief.

To think in a second it happened!

It was almost beyond my belief!

I left the shard in position;

The bleeding was not too intense,

But I felt that we needed assistance

Nothing else semed to make sense.

I laid my coat over her body,

And, leaving the porch, I set-out,

There was tragedy back in the church porch

And a violent storm raging without.

Coatless I staggered for miles,

Drenched to the skin and half-dead,

With thunder and lightning around me

And dark purple clouds overhead.

When I reached the small town I was weary,

So weary I fell once or twice,

Exhausted I pressed on a doorbell

With a hand that felt colder than ice.

I collapsed when I'd given my message;

The rest of the night is a blur.

But I know now that Mandy recovered

And I was delighted for her.

So take my advice; when you're hiking

And a storm threatens, go home post haste.

For a lightning-bolt can be a killer

And a life is not something to waste!

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