In Praise of Rain

Because it turns the grey concrete to silver

and the brown grass to green

 

Because it giveth the thirsty to drink

 

Because the music of it on the roof at night

is the sweetest lullaby

and because of petrichor

 

Because holding an umbrella over a stranger’s bag of groceries

can win you a fleeting smile

or a life-long friend

 

Because of salmon

 

Because the robins rejoice when the earthworms rise

 

Because we take for granted the turning of the taps, hot and cold

and the easy power of the showerhead

 

We take for granted the humming of the dynamos at Bonneville

and the flip of every light-switch

 

Because every kind of mushroom grows from the bark dust

around the trees in my neighborhood

 

Because when I am tired I wrap my eyes in green

 

Because of trilliums in the ravines of Marquam Hill

 

Because when I am tired of hot blue skies

there are thunderheads towering in the sunset

 

Because it reminds me to look up –

to look above myself

I praise rain.

 

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