Monday, October 13, 2008

"The Cleansing Rain"--2/15/05

The rain fell cold,
running through the streets
in gleeful little rivers.
I ran into the wet daylight,
throwing my arms up like bridges
to let the silver drops
make highways to my neck.
Did I think the rain,
those marvelous little spheres,
were endowed by our Creator
with a spiritual Dial Soap,
lathered by angelic hands,
to cleanse away the pain
that clung hotly to my soul?
Maybe I did.
But there was no one there
(anymore)
to gently break to me the Truth,
tell me that pretty things aren't real
(never were)
and warn me importantly
that a cold rain will give me (p)neumonia.
I was ignorant, you see,
of all these wisdoms.
So I stood there, smiling up
at the unseen owners
of the kind, lathering hands.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good writing, althought it's noticably different from your more recent poems. The first 7 lines paint the scene well using especially effective and poetic descriptions. Why is the "p" in "pneumonia" in perentheses?

Shandra Lorne said...

Well, as you pointed out, it was written why I was younger, so there are some little burrs in it. (p) is there because it continues the repetition of parentheses and because it has to do with a relevant but private matter. Some editions of this poem don't have the () around the p for that reason.

Thank you for continuing to visit! You are my hero.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a hero. Not the way you wanted, master.