words

i waited hours and hours for the rain
and i could see the birds by my window
making small calculations
and drawing out plans against the sky
for how this would change things
but it never came.
it sent the clouds ahead to survey
and the storm gears ground
and thunder was sound
yet ultimately the rain decided
not to come today
and so the gears ground in reverse
and the sound was thunder still
until the clouds moved apart
and on ahead to find
some more suitable part of the earth
where some more suitable man and birds do exist
and my feathered associates tilted their heads
this way and that and redrew their plans
and scratched out their small calculations
with the ends of their wings
and skittered on to follow the clouds
and though i elected to stay
and waited hours and hours for the rain
it never came.

-S.C. Martinez