like rain in the desert

Photo by Bill Gracey

It's raining! Been raining since deep into the night, when I awoke to that lovely gentle patter on the roof. Winter rains are the sweet cousin to our monsoon season. Instead of the crash and pow of thundering water flooding down on us for twenty minutes and then vanishing into the ether - this is the ongoing rhythm, the steady percussion, the slow drench of life seeping into our dust and turning it into rich earth.

It's hard to get out of bed on mornings like these. I yearn for 'rain days' the way Northerners have their snow days. Even though this kind of rain has NOTHING on the voluptuous downpours of my native Florida. It would take you a good half hour of walking in it to really get wet. Not exactly reason enough to shut down businesses and transit.  But it's in the desert, yall! It just doesn't happen every day. We should be calling in sick and dancing in it! 

Ah, but the City Council won't listen to me : ) 

That's alright. I'll carry this rain in my heart - where it'll water the seeds of poetry still budding, slaking the never-ending thirst that is always moaning somewhere in the background. I think that's one of the reasons I love it here in Tucson. It's one of the few places where most of us are totally on board with loving the rain. You never hear anyone sing "rain, rain, go away, come again another day". If anyone bemoans the cancelling of a game or some other interruption because of a little precipitation, it's done in hushed tones. Because they know better. We need every drop we can get.

So may your day be blessed by the rain. May it baptize you in your own soul's nourishment, like manna from heaven.

Leave a comment