I've learned to love rainy days

Because they remind me of my own.

When I watch the trees bend and shake in the wind

I, too, shudder because I remember

The days when torrents of hateful thoughts

Raged about my worn-out soul.

Beads of atmosphere strike my cheeks

And I remember the night before when droplets streamed

Not from outside but from within,

Breaking out of me as I broke.

But I smiled when the water stained my face,

Because those pain-grown tears made me feel alive again.

Umbrellas bob up and down the swollen sidewalks

And I think of my mother, my umbrella,

Who braves the winds and stinging wet pellets,

And how I lucky I am that love shields me against the elements

Because not everyone can say they have an umbrella—

Especially one as strong as her.

I turn the key in the car's ignition

Signaling the windshield wipers to wake up

And work their magic on the rain-spattered glass.

They clear the long road before me

The way my trembling hands cleared my blurry vision

And pulled my aching body upright once more.

In school I learned the rain is necessary:

It raises the growing things from their beds,

Turns their faces up toward the sky

As the sun peeks through the thinning clouds,

Bathing them in a new thought—

Without the grey there cannot be green.

I've learned to love them, these rainy days,

And every splash and drenched coat in between.

Each strike of lightning and crack of thunder

Electrifies my skin and reminds it of a purpose.

Thank God for those rainy days;

Without them, we couldn't live at all.