Some Downpours

When monsoons from South West and North East Deluge us for over half of every year Why is it that only certain downpours Stand out in memory etched Carved out like sculptures? There was the one that came late in the afternoon Far from the east, the clouds cumulonimbus Looked like an array of caparisoned pachyderms They advanced trumpeting thunder claps Plunging the world in darkness Unleashed their fury and set rindles in spate Then there was the one which poured the whole day Unabated without wind or thunder but several inches Drowning and washing away huts, men and animals And capturing headlines on the papers of the morrow There was that beautiful one Which came when sleepless you rolled on the bed As the night listened like an attentive mammoth Its ears and eyes focused like an arrow into the yonder First it was a distant murmur, the wind didn’t whisper Then an approaching roar over silent forests Till the staccato began on the rooftop Then again there was the midnight visitor Least expected, materializing from nowhere None, even the weatherman, could say where it originated Windless, steady, pouring out for hours With paced thunder and lightning as though preset Pulling you out of your bed On to the verandah to inhale Its abundant aromatic spray Where the moths would gather in glee To perform around a silent kerosene lamp Oh, such downpours are wonderful things Praise be to the one who sends them To fill our hearts with mirth And etch unforgettable nostalgia in our memory ________________ P.S.: As Providence would have it, there is a thunderstorm raging outside as I am concluding this (22: 08 IST,23rd April 2015, – Combatore, India) .