Drums and Gongs

The rain comes down like kettle-drums and gongs
declaring war. Like soldiers, raindrops fall
and gutters overflow with marching songs.

I can't imagine what ancestral wrongs
are righted thus. What cloud-bestirring call
makes rain come down like kettle-drums and gongs?

It's difficult to guess what grudge, so strong,
could capture water's heart in vengeful thrall,
make gutters overflow with marching songs

and rivers roar like surging, angry throngs.
Poor dryness, made to stand against a wall
while rain comes down like kettle-drums and gongs--

a firing-squad of droplets-- helpless, longs
for days of summer sunshine. (Don't we all?)
The gutters overflow with marching songs--

no. That vocabulary just belongs
to human hearts. No cause political
makes rain come down like kettle-drums and gongs
or gutters overflow with marching songs.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside