Rafał Próchniak | CC BY-SA 2.0

The Healing Touch

Sweeping again
from hiding, rain
plays upon unsuspecting heels,
gentle, a genteel prod: prelude
to its driving, furious vigor,
its cleansing sweep
through city streets
— Herded wholesale,
cowed into common cause,
pressed for fellow warmth,
cooling office-workers
stand static
with bovine regard:
the shower slowing
enough first for one,
then for another and another
— Slum urchins
dance nakedly desperate
for a little more,
the healing touch of rain.