Oh Rain

He
as he sat
on stretch of parched earth
under the sole tree of shade.

mindlessly staring
at the endless, cracked land,
at the vacant, hopeless sky,
for change in both, to God he bade.

So dry
oh so cruelly dry it was
that his tears, his grief had vaporised,
under the unceasing heat of the ruthless sun.

his cattle,
his wife had starved to their end,
but this deluge of dryness was far from being gone,
this drought, this curse, was now eating his son.

leaves died, fell off
the sole tree of shade,
it too was being consumed by this bane,
he looked up through the bare branches
spoke out of his dry throat, with pain.

"oh rain......"

far away
another man sat,
on the roof of his house,
soaking wet, cold, scared, grieved.

he looked
at the waves that washed lives away,
that razed houses, erased villages,
left peoples' swollen hearts bereaved.

Smell of rot,
of the deceased and diseased,
but this hellish deluge was far from being done,
with impending epidemics and death to come.

Drops fell,
the water rose with every wave,
his roof, his time was drowned bit by bit,
He looked at the cracks in the clouds,
hoping for them to widen up, free the sun,
With shivering, swollen, tired lips he said,

“oh rain….”