After the Rain

Last Friday, it rained.

It rained and it rained and it rained.

Water poured out the sky as if we had all been transported to the base of some great waterfall.

It rained like it might never stop raining.

But by nighttime it did stop.

And in the morning, the world shimmied off the last glistening drops, 

Like a great animal emerging from a pool.

And as the sun seared the fog from the land, 

the day promised to be that day.

That one perfect day you wait for through all the gray and dark and cold days starting in November.

That day you start to think is just a myth, when you realize that summer is really just a lot of rain and biting insects.

But the sun shone from a sky of perfect, cloudless blue.

And a breeze blew, lifting away any lingering dampness, and driving away the bugs.

And the day really was that day. And it was worth the wait.