Thursday, November 15, 2007

Today's poem - Working in the Rain by Robert Morgan


Working in the Rain
by Robert Morgan from Topsoil Road


My father loved more than anything to
work outside in wet weather. Beginning
at daylight he'd go out in dripping brush
to mow or pull weeds for hog and chickens.
First his shoulders got damp and the drops from
his hat ran down his back. When even his
armpits were soaked he came in to dry out
by the fire, make coffee, read a little.
But if the rain continued he'd soon be
restless, and go out to sharpen tools in
the shed or carry wood in from the pile,
then open up a puddle to the drain,
working by steps back into the downpour.

I thought he sought the privacy of rain,
the one time no one was likely to be
out and he was left to the intimacy
of drops touching every leaf and tree in
the woods and the easy muttering of
drip and runoff, the shine of pools behind
grass dams. He could not resist the long
ritual, the companionship and freedom
of falling weather, or even the cold
drenching, the heavy soak and chill of clothes
and sobbing of fingers and sacrifice
of shoes that earned a baking by the fire
and washed fatigue after the wandering
and loneliness in the country of rain.

2 comments:

  1. I have never read this poet. I will have to look him up. I love this poem. I like to walk in the rain. I think it is the solitude. No one will bother you in the rain. I am also known to be out in the rain pulling weeds.

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  2. I have never heard of Robert Morgan but what beautiful words. I too love the 'lonliness in the country of rain'!

    Thanks for sharing this Nan!

    ~~ Heidi ~~

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