The rain came quick.

It cracked out of the clouds and broke out in thunders

It dove quickly down below and pelted the soft grass

Like pebbles being thrown against the street

Then it seamlessly slipped through the drains,

Following a cycle that only it understood

But it gurgled underneath the ground

And i knew that more was to come

The wind began to drift, fighting against the bullets of water

It seemed like the sky had opened up and taken a large breath

So to calm, so to steady itself

But then…quickly and all at once

The rain only started tumbling harder

Worms came out to play with it

Cheerful bird songs got swept up in the downpour

Only some people got totally drenched

But isn’t it funny?

Everyone’s first instinct was to run and hide

I felt the first drop on my cheek

I swiped hard so my face wouldn’t get wet

But I missed a bit…just a bit

So I tasted that first drop as it came down

It first tasted like water, like nothing

Then it tasted salty and bitter

Like a juicy yellow lemon left out too long to dry

It was familiar, instantly familiar

And I knew I had tasted this before

A gasp, a shrug, a fight broke out above

Between the internal choices of weather

and the external desires of nature

The wind cried out for peace, peace

But the water just shook, shook…shaking its head

The wind blew wide, howling cries of pain,

Almost like it was too much, it all too much to bear

The water groaned and grumbled

and grumbled and poured

Then it whispered against the wind

sounding of only one feeling, one word:

“breathe.”

See, in some parts of the world, it doesn’t rain much.

The sun shines often, very proud and very bright

So drylands appear, dry barren lands

In other parts of the world, it rains too much

The skies are cool and the rain can be a calm

But bright light rarely exposes herself

Because it can’t fight long against the rain

I breathe in and breathe out

Because I am surrounded and stuck

by destruction that promises to build something

and realistically — it’s harmless

It’s only water after all

It’s just odd that it seems to hurt so bad.

Fall, fall, pour down rain

Pour like water from a bottle

Like tears from my eyes

Pour because you’re doing something

Even though I don’t understand

~

In a few minutes, the rain is gone

Gone, almost like it never came.

The storm has passed, nature continues to last

The skies are clear and the winds breathing steadies

Nature feels an odd sense of refreshment

Songbirds sing different tunes I’ve never heard before

And those that ran for shelter have come out

—splashing, laughing, playing in the puddles

those murky, muddy, puddles that happen to reflect joy

Like a mirror to a different world

Above, the rain clouds shift

They shift to the south to spread their tears somewhere else

They’ll come back soon enough, soon in due time

As they always do in their simple cycle,

their own journey of life

Next time, I decide, I’ll sing in the rain

and dance and shout and play

It’s crying revealed the hidden joys of nature

and soothed its unsettled pain

For now, I look at what they’ve done

To the sky, to the streets, to nature

I look at the things that sparkle and gleam

And drip with drops of clean and new

When I look at myself, in those rainy puddles

I see what they’ve done to me too

Because some things?

Can really only be revealed after the rain comes