come back another day,” I sing
to my daughter as we watch
the torrential downpour
from inside our humid apartment.
This is the first hurricane
of the season, after the hottest
summer ever in Hawaiʻi.
“Rain, rain, go away,
come back another day,” I sing
as streets become streams in India,
cars become corals in Nepal,
houses become shipwrecks
in Bangladesh, freeways become free
flowing rivers in Houston,
and mountains become mudslides
in Sierra Leone. “Rain, rain,
go away, come back another day,”
I sing as images of Haiyan, Katrina,
and Sandy flash flood
the television screen. Are we
not a biblical deluge of
concrete? Are we not
an unprecedented cyclone
of toxic emissions?
“Rain, rain, go away,” I sing
submerged in the most human
weather: prayer.
Pray the waters recede soon.
Pray when we rebuild,
We will create more sustainable
cities. Pray those displaced
will find ark and sanctuary.
