A Tropical Rain Story. Poem by Geoffrey Fafard

Pounding
On all the ducks in my garden
Giving them punctured tyre profiles
Heavy
Afternoon's thundering downpour
Monsoon rain silencing even manic cockatoos
Deafening
My old dog on the verandah
She is alerted and worried by possible thunder
Soaking
Into already sodden grass
Giant grasshoppers swim where they should walk
Humid
Is this magic rain with ability
To wash clean anything, living or dead
Loud
On my old tin roof
Bringing the world into an introverted dimension
Screaming
Wet neighbours, forgotten clothes
One inch an hour, joyful kids
Tropical
You gotta laugh
Cause no one can see you crying
Dark
Now absurdly heavy crazily wet
Off with the shirt- its clean up time
Never
Even after 50 years can I stop loving it
I can't see three feet in front and I grin