Monsoon Morning

Many thanks for this photo by Gabriele Diwald on Unsplash

Born out somewhere over the South China Sea,
It starts at six and wets the earth till eight.
The soil drinks every drop with a ferocious thirst.
You tell yourself to stay under cover and recall
Wintry mornings from another place and time.
Yes, there are those morsels to be chewed upon
As the air slowly warms back to where it will be
For the rest of the torrid day and the sun cracks
Open a reluctant eye to show the birds on the sill-
Unable to dream, they were surprised at breakfast.