Rain (3) Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Rain comes cleansing, cooling, piddling, spilling
Trillions of dropsarriving uninvited
Rain comes drenching, drizzling, dripping, swilling
Down children's bonnets, coats, umbrellas, faces
With wetness ignited

It's the percussion element,
Tinkling like tiny bells, rolling like drumbeats, faster
Clattering over the cobbles, like horses without a master

Wheeeeee it skates off rooftops
Whooooosh it scours the gutters, makes boats of leaves
Hup! It is ushering people into cafes and shops
Whooooooop it is puddle-wonderful for wellies to splash up knees

In picnics, sandwiches sog, rain turns a meadow to a morass
Ping! The worms rise up to the swampy surface ofgrass

Now everyone's sheltering
The rain comes heltering skeltering
Skittishly squirting from spouts
Pouring down window panes like a waterfall
Showering like grain on a drum
Rain, ricocheting like bullets off every wall