Expectations

I was waiting for rain

The days were chilly with fog

That crept silent and still along the ground

For days it lingered, waiting quietly

Weaving downward through winter-bare trees

Through dark streets, through high, wind-raped grasses

A coaxing lover who leaves as quickly as arrived

Then, the rain fell diagonally, a tease of wet drops

Trickling through a window left open

A parable of the blind, feeling it’s way incessantly

It did not hold back (my world a basin)

So empty and waiting

It fell at once, softly, a gentle rain

Dripping feverishly into gutters

And damp mossy porches and slimy embankments

My breath became the once lingering fog

And the air hung like a blanket

Thick with words and silently falling drops

That glinted like milky stars

In the glow of street lights and window lamps

My thoughts, ever extraneous, fell quietly among them

When I say the nights were chilly…full…expecting

I meant that the days were anxious as well

Like a child who cannot sit still

And I…

I waited for rain