The Beauty of a Rainfall

The beauty of rainfall at mid day drops
   like the gentle sounds of a pot boiling in another room;
   like a soft, caressing press
         of an ambient gray sonnet soundscape squeezed into a green painting,
         of blue sky crushed into gray and seasoned with sunlight's kiss.









The sky of a rainfall at mid day glimmers with
   a glowing moistness beneath lowering, frowning clouds;
   a shining radiance on the cusp of coming brightness;
   a gathering darkness that breaks like the cry no longer able to be contained.










The passing of a rainfall at mid day leaves behind
   the stunning blue of a well-watered, weathered sky;
   the soggy soil slowing impatient bustle and hurry;
   the shimmering puddles reflecting parting clouds riding across watery trails;

        And my heart washed from cares—if only for a moment—
            while listening to the rain which at mid day falls.

- D. Benning

I Love the Smell in the Morning

I love the smell in the morning
        after a rain!
Cool, crisp air, sharp with pungency of wet leaves,
    aromatic as of close juniper.
Mists swirling low to the ground,
    hovering over the newly plowed fields,
    tending each clod with maternal care.

 I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Sunlight dampened by season's first fog—
    delightful interplay of air, fire and water
                                 over earth.
Muted ball of fire, risen bright,
         now orange with stripes,
    struggling to exude its warming rays.

I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Breath that lingers long and hangs just in front,
    twisting upward, sideways,
         then leaving not a trace.
Vague moistness under foot and remnant puddles,
    softening the former crunch of leaves into sounds of cats' footfalls.

I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Tantalizing reminders of life, of hope, of more!
    Promises given of an abundant rain.
Send it now once again, O Lord,
    The early and latter rain,
        The Reign of your Spirit in us!

- D. Benning

Storm Beauty

UC Davis, December 2014, © D. Benning

GLORY be to God for stormy days—
   For skies of sodden-color as of foggy air;
     For roiling clouds all bunched up, jostling forth in flight;
Fresh rainfall, water-fall on sidewalk plays;
  Landscaped tossed and mottled—dank, drippy, misty snare;
    And all winds, their force and bluster and might.

All things showery, soggy, wet, dank;
  Whatever is blowing, blusterous (who knows how?)
    With swift, wild, dark, light; flashy, dim;
God fathers-forth—His glory without rank:
            Praise him.

- D. Benning
Originally written in Oct 2009
 

UC Davis, December 2014, © D. Benning