! A Rainy Day Enjoyed Poem by Michael Shepherd

Waking this morning is unhurried, even slow –
the weather is saying something to the body.
The forecast for the day, it seems, is rain.

Time, then, for that ease of human living –
a day of light and measured pleasures,
to be indulged in, not too briefly,
not too long; to love each thing at home within itself;

open all the windows, and perhaps the doors –
let in that rain-washed air, conditioned, cool,
be inside and yet outside; it once was said
that rain comes only after sacrifice;
this rain is holy.

Idly open a drawer not opened for some time;
find there a children’s toy or game;
live for some minutes as a child again,
smelling rain as you once smelled it,
full of the promise of a lifetime not yet lived.

Be that child again, in this loving house;
love this rainy day as children do,
living life the way it’s offered; all
too present to need future dreams;

let the golden present sift gently through your fingers,
you, unhurried, loving life
as it now, today, loves you.