for day on day, clouds hang heavy,
blanket of wool on sticky hours,
people ask, when will it rain?
say, we really need rain.
say, it’s getting sorta scary
all these days with no rain
we, the people of gore-tex and pulled up hoods
(and only umbrellas if you’re a kid, on business or from out of town),
we’re known for endless rain days,
so it feels foreign to long for
bursting open clouds
when we’re still living under the magical sunshine of
summer fall
i don’t say it out loud for those wet months will stretch long,
but i think it and i begin
to pine for the splattering drops,
the spray from under car tires,
the look of ground saturated,
satisfied
these plants are long-suffering, drooped in fatigue,
and the dirt is dust that clings
to little feet and carpets,
and when wildfires burn uncontained,
we hold our breath and pray and
wait
this morning, when it’s still dark
and we can’t see the clouds,
those awake at this hour smell the air ripe with dirt,
note how it right wafts through the screened window
and how the droplets across car hoods, under street lights
glimmer hope
the light starts to rise up on the day,
and the rain begins to fall softly,
harder then,
splashing decidedly on leaves,
plunking onto parched soil
the drops are a chorus, like the patch-patch-clap rains
we created with our hands and laps in mr. jones’ music class,
surrounded by xylophones and snares and clefs dancing
along walls
yes, the raindrops are music this morning,
wet holy grace notes,
and the earth exhales
Connecting through the power of stories written, spoken and lived
I am rejoicing at our much needed rain and your beautiful words expressed it perfectly!
Thank you, Elizabeth. It can be hard day after day, but there’s something so deeply satisfying about it when you’ve been waiting such a long time, right?
This is just lovely. Those rain drops are like sweet music. Praying it will rain here soon too.
Yes, Abby. Hope you all have seen rain since you wrote this comment. Bless you, and thank you for your presence here.
“yes, the raindrops are music this morning,
wet holy grace notes,
and the earth exhales”
…and so do I, my friend! And so do I!
Love you, Karrilee. Thank you for exhaling with me. :-)
Oh, beautiful. You are a poet at heart, Ashley. I love “wet holy grace!”
Poetry just touches something that can’t quite be touched any other way for me. Thank you, friend, for your love and faithfulness.
Really beautiful, Ash! And it made me think of how I caught the first scent of rain last before I ever looked out the window, before my too long commute in to work last night as people re-learn how to drive in all this wet stuff! Thank you for your words!
The smell is so distinctive and even there in the air before it comes. And yeah, it’s allways stunning how everyone forgets how to drive in it — how could that even be possible?!
you really are a poet Ash! I took notice of the sounds of the rain this morning as they hit the skylights. I had almost forgotten how that sounds since it had been so long with out rain . lovely to know nature is taking care of those wildfires and will clean out the air for us.
Nothing like clean air, right, Tami? The sound of rain on skylights is such a great one, too. It’s been a while since I’ve heard it, but I can imagine it right now. Thank you, friend.
I love it when the clouds of your heart burst into poetry, so much like this morning’s rain…you sing the song of the droplets…and I thank you for that my friend.
Thank you for blessing the poet in me a long time ago, and still. Love you, Ang.
Great job writing on a single moment, a single event, and turning it into poetry.
NorthEast girl that I am, I knew exactly what you were talking about, and you evoked all those sensory memories of a good soaking rain.
Cheers,
Leah
Thank you, Leah. For me, I’ve realized poetry is so often the best medium to tell one of those single moment/event stories. I appreciate you telling me what you felt and heard here. Grateful for you.
Thank you for sharing the gift of this poem Ashley. The words of the second to last stanza leapfrog and somersault so acutely in song, they danced a smile out of me before my brain could tell my face it was now feeling quite happy.
Sheryl, your comment was poetry, too. So wonderful to see you here. Thank you for blessing me with your words today.
traveling here via “give me Grace” community I settled in to read your musings. I really resonate with the quiet grace of your words. and then I smiled as I went on further and read this on the rain and then had to go see if you maybe lived in Portland or somewhere where the rains are starting. My son and his wife and 4 kids just moved there from PA and we are from Illinois and it feels like they are on the other side of the world, but we are coming for 8 days in December and will take a road trip next summer. I will be back here and read some more. Your quiet reflections are what I stop for when I am looking at blogs. .
Carol, thank you for your lovely words. Welcoming your son and family to Portland…what part of the city? (We are in NE.) I do hope to see you here again and that you have a wonderful time in Portland this winter. You will likely catch a good amount of rain then. :-) Bless you today with continuing grace for your journey.
they are actually in Clackamas. Yes, we expect the rain. yeah, i’ll be hanging out here. I have been pretty inactive in the blogging world lately – had knee replacement 6 weeks ago but emerging whole once again! still a work in progress. I didn’t even journal for 1 month – unheard of for me! I think i might actually start posting again, hopefully this week yet.