I woke the night it finally rained
With a desire to take myself outside and lie down
Among all the broken spines of estranged grass
Baked dry by this new breed of summer sun
And with my parched mind
Bleached blank and curling at the edges
To be a part of this great soaking-up

I understand now that this is what I have been waiting for
The wet air, the need to dig both hands deep into the ground
And feel the earth-soil reviving
Under nails and nesting palms, in the pulsing of my veins
I will grow roots that spread beneath all these rolling hills
Map the rivulets that the water makes of the ground
For even as the thunder flashes, across a sky of churning clouds
This is where I feel the safest
Lying here, under summer rain

by Jessica Kashdan-Brown