Reprieve

Straight down
The rain comes
Suddenly
Seemingly
All at once.
Citywide sheets of cascading water,
The deluge tonight knows just where it wants to go.

Angry hooves
In the cold
Strike the slate roof above me,
They outrage
The grass below,
Hard we feel it press, weighing down on us as heavily
As clamps bear down on wood.

More vulnerable than I can stand to be,
A friendless, homeless woman,
Drenched and cold in the black night and wondering why,
I remember fear.
I wonder if the roof will hold,
Whether the outdoor cats got in all right,
Or if we left something precious outside, and it's now destroyed.

But footfalls now are light,
Prancing happily above me, raindrops have become
Friendly, light, and musical -- offering me hope.
Surely our cats know all they need to know,
To find their way to warmth and safety.

And in the morning, after sleep,
On getting out of bed,
I find the razor sharp, staccato, polar air of yesterday
Has given place to warmth.



Copyright 2004 by Diana Strelow.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry 360 with permission of the author.