Sleeping on the Porch - 1967

I sit in a screened in porch in Oxford
Maryland as the hot summer evening comes
With western colors that fall on docks for
Commerce and docks for lucky rich born sons
Who laugh as they lower sailboat sails.

A storm is gathering over the Bay.
To the west long languid clouds trail
In the sunset, like soldiers who walked away
And rested in the fields not knowing war

Was just about to come. A cool wind picks up.
Two girls leave and once inside, shut the door.
At last, the thunderhead's attack is abrupt;

It laces the sky with long deep bright lightning.
I wake to see eastern water brightening.