We have entered the language
Of Clouds—the Weather is all over:²
A Cloud Empties itself on our umbrella;³
An awful Tempest Mashes the air.⁴
We find the Rain better
Than shelter from the rain:⁵
One needs no Paradise
When the Rain falls—⁶
Thunder Roars deep
In the Unmeasured!⁷
Bride to the Thunder—
Sister to the fallen Rain—⁸
The Rains that spin from us once
Wrapped the Flesh & Souls of men—⁹
We turn to Smoke, rise into the sky, and
Mix with the Clouds—then come down to
The earth again as Rain, and Nurture some
Nameless patch of grass with no story to tell.¹⁰
¹ Angela Morgan, God, the Artist
² Ghassan Zaqtan tr. Fady Joudah, Rain
³ Alexis Rotella, Another Pandemic Dream
⁴ Emily Dickinson, An Awful Tempest Mashed the Air
⁵ Langston Hughes, Strange Hurt
⁶ Charles Wright, Littlefoot 23
⁷ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, A Drama of Exile
⁸ Audre Lorde, Anniversary
⁹ Peter Campion, Concourse C
¹⁰ Haruki Murakami tr. Jay Rubin, 1Q84