some(times

.

There's a storm outside
And the gap between crack and thunder
Crack and thunder
Is closing in
Is closing in

The rain floods gutters
And makes a great sound on concrete

On a flat roof, there's a boy
Leaning against a wall of rain
Aerial held high
Calling "Come on thunder
Come on thunder!"

Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes I swear I can see your soul
Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes I swear I can see your soul

It's a monsoon
And the rain lifts lids off cars
Spinning buses like toys
Stripping them to chrome
Across the bay, the waves are something else
Picking up fishing boats and spewing them on the shore

The boy's hit
Lit up against the sky
Like a sign
Like a neon sign

Then he crumples
Drops into the gutter
Cut strings
Legs twitching

The flood swells his clothes
Delivers him on
Delivers him on

Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes I swear I can see your soul
Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes I swear I can see your soul

There's four new colors in the rainbow
An old man's taking Polaroids
But all he catches
Is endless rain
Endless rain
Endless rain
Endless rain

He says, "Listen!"
Takes my head
Puts my ear to his
And I swear I can hear the sea


—Lester Piggott

.

questions found under running water

 

.

The young child, Christ, is straight and wise

And asks questions of the old men, questions

Found under running water for all children

And found under shadows thrown on still waters

By tall trees looking downward, old and gnarled.

Found to the eyes of children alone, untold,

Singing a low song in the loneliness.

And the young child, Christ, goes on asking

And the old men answer nothing and only know love

For the young child. Christ, straight and wise. 

—Carl Sandburg

.

love letters

  

.

Every day, priests minutely examine the Law

And endlessly chant complicated sutras.

Before doing that, though, they should learn

How to read the love letters sent by the wind

and rain, the snow and moon.

—Ikkyu

Sonya Arutzen version

.

rain

 

.

With thick strokes of ink the sky fills with rain.
Pretending to run for cover but secretly praying for more rain.

Over the echo of the water, I hear a voice saying my name.
No one in the city moves under the quick sightless rain.

The pages of my notebook soak, then curl. I’ve written:
“Yogis opened their mouths for hours to drink the rain.”

The sky is a bowl of dark water, rinsing your face.
The window trembles; liquid glass could shatter into rain.

I am a dark bowl, waiting to be filled.
If I open my mouth now, I could drown in the rain.

I hurry home as though someone is there waiting for me.
The night collapses into your skin. I am the rain.


—Kazim Ali

.

un-heard of thing

.

That morning I heard water being poured into a teapot.

The sound was an ordinary, daily, cluffy sound.

But all at once, I knew you loved me.

An unheard-of thing, love audible in water falling. 

—Robert Bly

 .

in a drop of water

.

some(where

.

Somewhere on the road that crosses the spinster river a pilgrim approaches, praying to be the river, the sun, his walking, his barrenness or his thirst.

At dusk he finds the new moon by noticing a circular absence of stars, 

and the river bears children all night long.

—Kazim Ali

.