Black clouds
         roll & gallop
churning the skies
        some kind of preparation
               for war

shimmering sheets
              of slanting rain
yanked & contorted
             in elemental violence

tree-crowns lashing
             left and right
as if the enemy is within

the animal clamour of
wild doors & windows

          and then,

the sudden outburst
           of small feet upon
    the drenched terraces
             shrieks of abandon
                     & glee

and the frenzied hands
                  of mothers
clawing laundry down
             from the line

so much joy
so much urgency

so much nonchalance

as today as perhaps 
a thousand years before

impervious to the monarchs
who wield
           neither rain
                      nor thunder

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Header photograph by Deborah Hughes
Header artwork by Jordan Keller-Wilson