RAIN: We take it so much for granted,
The beauty of dark clouds gathering in the west,
Traveling eastward,
Bringing with them a deluge of rainfall
that washes everything clean,
refills the watershed north of us,
splashes wondrously on the parched earth
and is soaked up greedily, like a sponge.
Birds find little puddles to hop into,
spreading their wings and dousing themselves,
taking a good bath–
(you never know when you’ll get your next one);
It rains and rains and then rains some more,
while people grumble and complain of the need
to drive to work in pouring rain,
while those of us who can stay home do
and make a pot of soup or a pan
of brownies, sometimes standing
in the rain, outside your back door
just to feel it in your face;
it does not come without a price tag,
these rains;
There will be accidents on the freeways,
people determined to drive
as though the roads were clear and dry;
There may be mudslides,
and as the storm heads east
and crosses through the desert,
there may be flash floods
deadly to encounter,
as quickly gone as they came.
I love a rainy day;
I love it most
when I am sitting warm and dry
inside my house–
and if there is thunder?
and lightning?
I am reminded of my childhood in Ohio
burrowing deep under covers,
feeling safe in my childhood home
while bolts of lightning
illuminated my room.
There was never any fear
from the storm.
I was safe, always safe,
my parents always nearby.
This is what a big storm
always reminds me of —
RAIN – we take it so much for granted –
until there is a drought.
SANDRA LEE SMITH originally posted October 17, 2012 updated June 8, 2018
(You may wonder–rightly so–why I am writing, writing, writing about rain on a very hot, cloudless summer day–think of it as a kind of rain dance)
