Let them come, with their silver tops

When the world is hot and my skin is fried, scratch­ing from the con­stant dry, let the clouds boil up, boil up high, and then shade the earth with the dark­en­ing sky and bring the secrets and the smell of rain. The cool­ness and the blessed rain, again.

Our land is brown but blessed, stressed in the heat, the shiny heat of day. The slen­der green of rivers slide along, striv­ing to con­tinue, to feed its own along the banks, the banks where the dust rises. Rises, pow­dery clomp by clomp as we walk, walk the shady way.

And though the heat, the dry­ness of heat, pushes down our weary feet, we plod along. When the heat falls hard, on many days, unquenched by the dark of night, we ask, in quiet times, we ask. Bring us the clouds, the black-bellied clouds, the clouds that softly hold the heads of gods in their moist­en­ing grasp. Let them come, with their sil­ver tops and their bel­lies black as night and cool as for­give­ness. The clouds, the rain, the respite from the toil.

To soak the thirsty soil. Let the magic come and stay, stay for a while, at least for a while, and wet us down, all the way down. Fill our pores, smooth our skin, wash us free of dirt and sin, with the rain, the cleans­ing, bless­ing rain. Sink the water to the core of the earth and push it through the dust, mak­ing it heavy and loath to leave the ground.

When it’s done, when it’s over, when we’ve had our trea­sure and the clouds have gone, when it’s over, please, bring it again another day. Another day of clouds, of life, of rain, of supreme love and com­fort, of one more treat for man and his ani­mal friends.

Wait until it’s right, but then, bring the big rollers in from the west, and let us watch the world get its fiery drink, and drink in the noise and think about cooler times, but know…let us know that there is noth­ing bet­ter than this.

Slim Ran­dles can be reached at (505) 306‑6009, at 7308 Painted Pony Trail NW, Albu­querque, NM 87120, or at ol_slim@yahoo.com or www.slimrandles.com. Brought to you by the new book “Home Coun­try” at www.slimrandles.com.

Posted by Slim Randles on Aug 22 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.