| I go outside and look to the sky, hopeful. Is that rain? We need rain. I’ve been fooled before by the gentle clapping of tree leaves high in the canopy, stirred by breezes blowing up from the tropics. This land is dry; trees are distressed, leaves hang limp as rags. Is that rain? The sound is high above, as if raindrops can’t make it down through thirsty leaves. I stretch bare arms and feel nothing but air, even as the sound becomes closer, more emphatic. The upper canopy continues to sway an easy, gentle rhythm, even as the sound moves uphill toward me. It IS rain! A proper shower moves through the trees, across the yard, sprinkles my bare arms and uplifted face, and is gone, not lingering even to rinse dust from thirsty leaves. Is a full day of rain too much to ask for? Or even a full hour? Today’s dark and low-hanging clouds are a tease. We need rain.~K |
