Fire And Rain (Poetry)

Everywhere the water lies
reflecting unrelenting skies —
dull grey sheet metal cloud dips low
to almost touch the land below —
each field and meadow, path and lane
now river-swallowed — drowned by rain.

Dark currents swirl round island trees
where birds cling grim as refugees
and watch the debris floating by
with folded wing and weary eye
as though struck dumb they sit and wait —
seem dispossessed — resigned to fate.

Nothing stirs — the air hangs still —
no sun, no wind, no breath, no will —
the land is sunken in some dream —
a cold enchantment — raindrops gleam
from leaf and twig — glass-bead the fence
and string their chill as they condense.

The drain, the ditch, the pool, the pond
gushed over — merged to lakes beyond —
brown waters swelled and mixed their mud
’til all the eye observes is flood
where once was green and flowered turf
an inland sea submerges earth.

How swiftly change is brought about
by Nature’s law of spate or drought —
the careless storm’s torrential force
or sun that sears without remorse
for those with strength who weather pain
and brave the fire — wait out the rain.