Running for Cover

Green umbrellas
graze snap dragons and petunias
just passing under the eaves of this shower.

Don’t lecture us on the virtues of water
falling day after day until we are weary
of traveling to the well.
We are flooded with gratitude
for the luxurious green of our dreaming—
held boldly against the great grey
that haunts all our waking
like the common chores
of any servant tasked to survive.

We do not worry about thirst
or other suffering here.
The body is saturated,
if not satisfied,
by this over flowing
of the gods and the cumulous clouds
concealing the heavens
somewhere above.

Open the ribs of this shelter
and protect us from the deluge
while we walk timidly and pray
for the light and relief to arrive
abruptly as the flash of cracking thunder
on her hurried way home—
running for any kind of cover.