When it finally, finally rained
and the air smelled so sweet
we took the children for a walk
and they noticed everything:
The foal in the neighbor’s paddock,
the acorns on the ground,
the tips of cedar cones—
like roses carved of wood—
the prickly liquidambar seedpods,
and the brilliant colors of the leaves
backlit as they were
by a shaft of sunlight
coming from under the clouds.
Water droplets glistened
on cedars, firs, and pines,
“like jewels,” someone said,
and the girl child repeated:
“the trees are wearing jewels!”
With faces alight
and cold and wet little hands
our darlings brought us treasures
and we all filled our pockets.
Then, that night before dinner
we decorated the table
with acorns and leaves and pieces of bark,
moss and lichen and roses of wood.
Surely no table has ever been more beautiful
than that one,
on the day it finally, finally rained.
(Dear God, Spirit of Life, Ground of Our Being:
This is what we ask
for all families, and all children:
this much beauty and abundance and love.
Surely it cannot be too much to ask.
Surely it cannot be too much to give.
Please, help us make it so. Amen.)