The site traffic data revealed that there was a surge in visitors who had come to my blog because they were searching for "after the storm." Yes, those very search words.

It might have been their because of the interests to find out more about the aftereffects of the storms that destroyed property and life in a few American states.

In Japan, more than a month after the shake and the tsunami, the people and the government are still working through the storm that has not quite ended.

And, throughout the world there are people dealing with metaphorical storms in their lives every single day.

Which is why I thought it is worth it to re-post that wonderful poem by Boris Pasternak:

After the Storm

The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.

The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.

An artist's hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his colour-bath.

The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.

It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone's soul, inspired and ablaze.

1958
                 Translated by Lydia Pasternak Slater 

Pasternak is, of course, known to most of us as the creator of Dr. Zhivago.  Play that the lovely music from the movie version, in the video below, and read the poem all over again. Chances are quite good that you will feel the storms clearing ...