Don't hide from winter rains,
don't cower behind doors!
Let raindrops
scatter on your face and
tangle in your hair,
let rain cool your fingers,
may it slide down shoulders
till they shine!
Walk out into fields,
stretch your arms and turn-
Breathe!
Breathe whole circles of
rain-stained colours,
breathe mists dancing
from balding crop fields!
Share the air the foxes breathe,
foraging in the rain.
Laugh!
Jump puddles!
Dodge ballooning drops
as they ambush from
breeze-blown branches,
tramp squelched leaves
packed dank on badger trails.
Look!
Catch a flash of deer butt
disappearing, see wayward drops
as they begin to tilt
from skeletons of bracken
long browned.
See people hurry,
scuttling home to hide,
holding hats, dodging
puddles once smashed,
stamped, loved, splashed.
And if rain rages,
watch it hammering,
hear it roar!
But when raging stills,
may rain dance on your hood:
gentle fingery rhythms
will help you comprehend
rain has been much libelled.
Don't cower behind doors:
feel, breathe, walk, laugh-
don't run, don't rush for home!
Let raindrops
scatter on your face and
tangle in your hair-
don't hide from winter rains!