a blind man describes rain
rain brings the world alive
orchestrates it out of darkness
with no note ever quite the same
no phrase ever precisely repeated
and to no fixed score
it strikes tickles
sizzles on brain cells
ad libitum
ears catch and shape
the disparateness of trees
the cubism of buses cars
they register
the rush of gutter water
the drip of edges
the murmuring drum of a whole city
a shoe-shop range
of squelching footsteps
taps out a backing to
the precipitation of notes
they people the manuscript
with speculation open
vistas of interpretation
here’s a diamonded window
press cheek to glass and each pane
idiosyncratically rewards
with coolness a kaleidoscopic
wonder of liquid sounds
the door is open and
rain falls
to the happiness
of not wearing a hat
an urge to throw off
clothes and dance
a wetness on the face
which is not tears
Patricia Leighton, Collection ‘Hidden’, Oversteps Books, 2019
