Until the rains come

Until the rains come

We thirst as puddles dry up
as dust fills the air
and ashes choke our lungs.

The heat becomes unbearable
but we bear it until the rains come.

Hope billows in ether above us;
we pray it descends to bless us, to
revive us as we plant seeds of hope;

as heat stifles the urge to sing,
we sing louder till the rains come.

We spray each other with water.
We splash each other with hope
as sun sets among waiting fields.

Heat summons clouds as if to pray;
we pray together till the rains come.

And we send rockets upwards to gods
to remind them that we still thirst below.
And they answer, "all dust must pass".

For heat promises famine or flood;
we wait and wait until the rains come.

© Copyright 2022 Kåre Enga [178.375] (March.2022)

20 lines

For

FORUM

Verdant Poetry Contest  (E) NATURE-themed quarterly contest. #2000001 by Choconuts Roasting

Notes:
1. Isaan has two basic seasons: wet (May-October) and dry (December-March).
2. April 13-15, Songkran – also known as the Water Splashing Festival – is a celebration to mark the start of the Buddhist New Year.
3. A Rocket Festival (Lao: ບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ, romanized: Bun Bang Fai) is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people throughout much of Northeastern Thailand and Laos near the beginning of the wet season.