My rain is here and there,

Not just the gentle pitter patter that

I came to know when young,

The kind that speckled classroom windows

On September afternoons

Drab with cold and heavy with expectancy

For mothers to collect and feed

When bells rang out so shrill and loud.

But then there’s also rain from there

In Africa where womanhood took hold.

The heavy lashing at the panes

Of shacks set on the side of fields

That wafted through the scent

Of citrus fruits on air so thick

I felt quite nourished by my breath.

Two very different types of rain

But both have brought me comfort here,

The volume changed to suit the time,

The rhythmic tapping keeps me dancing

Through the years that passed me by.

I needed a prompt today so I visited dVerse Poets for a bit of inspiration. The prompt was ‘give me your rain’. I thought hard about this and realised that the sound of rain has shaped certain parts of my life.

I grew up in the UK and knew that light rain that came with our grey skies. It is familiar and reminds me of childhood and my time at school.

Then I moved to Africa just as I was becoming an adult and the tropical storms were the soundtrack to that tumultuous part of my life. I can still close my eyes and remember how I felt as the rain pounded the windows each afternoon as the heavens opened.

Our emotions are very closely tied up with our senses and the rain brings so many of our senses into play, so it makes sense that the sound of it can make our hearts beat a bit faster. I guess it’s a reason why some of us are so affected by ASMR. I love nothing more than sitting with my book and listening to the Hogwarts library ASMR videos. To me, that is bliss.

And the sound of rain on the window will remind me of the good and the bad times in life and that ebb and flow is what makes life so perfectly rich and exciting. So that’s my rain, what’s yours?

Much Love

Rachel xx

Original prompt found here https://dversepoets.com/2020/06/02/rain/