Meditations after a Rainstorm
Millie Sweeny
Sunlight brings a sudden silence
with the final drops of rain;
the audience and actors hush.
Chirping and hopping,
bobbing, climbing,
timid and thirsty
to drink from the glowing diamond-gleam,
liquid light,
miracle dropped from heaven,
daily, weekly manna
of wilderness.
The quail in the garden,
jays by the plum tree,
barn swallows in pasture—
they know better than I
how to accept blessing,
to take the grains of honey wafer
and hymn.