“Rain, rain, go away,

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.