When the Tornado Came

I saw you lift off the ground and into the trees.
Then you were up and caught like a marionette in a laughing fit. It was the most gorgeous madness how you became the gleam in the storm's eye.
I wondered when you would come down, if ever, and I marveled at
how the thrashing, like a column of stagnant water, held you fast.
Then you dropped.
Slowly, gracelessly behind the ruined woods that flanks the highway.