there was a wall of rain
moving toward us yesterday -
not quickly, but leisurely,
as if to give us enough time to decide whether to
run away
or whether we should just
wait for it to engulf us
in air full of water.
we were both too stunned
to make any such decision,
so we stood there
letting that cloud coat us in
the satisfaction of knowing
every single piece of our
clothing would have to go in
the dryer when we got home,
with wet spots on the car seats.
so we looked at each other,
through the air full of water,
and laughed the same laugh
that we laughed an hour later
on the floor
when we realized your
tee shirt was longer than
that purple dress i wore
to church,
the one that made people
look at me as if i were an
immodest youth
who needed a stern talking to.
and maybe i was -
but listening to the rain
hit the sidewalk
from the warmth of your arms,
wrapped up in the crisp scent of
rain and grass and you
i found myself wondering if there
could be rainbows in the night sky,
because that's the only way
the day could be any
more surprisingly beautiful.
so there's a big part of me who's
glad i was drenched,
and freezing,
and exhausted,
because it wouldn't have been
as beautiful
if we had run.