Rain is pouring down
On the pavement as I walk
Along the Derrygonelly Road
Back home from town
Big heavy drops thud down
Onto my umbrella
And run off its rim
Down the back of my shoes
A flurry of wind blows the rain
Into my face
Blinding me so that
I walk right into a deep puddle
That splashes up muddy wet splodges
Over my beige trousers
I manage to dodge back into the
bushes every time a lorry
goes thundering past me
and sucks the air from around me
then sends out an after shock
of putrid water in its wake
and lets me breath again.
Cars drive through the largest puddles
Sending a tidal wave over
The heads of unsuspecting pedestrians.
Covering them in a wet oily film.
The trees bend away from the wind
Sending out the last leaves of autumn
An orange and yellow leaf
The last on the tree
Holds on tenuously before
It allows itself to be blown into oblivion.
How long will it manage to stay on?
The sun sends a gentle light through a cloud
Over the tops of the trees
Contrasting dramatically with the darker trunks
That the light has not yet reached
A truck blasts its horn at me
Making my whole body stiff and shaky
I look up angrily
Hoping the driver can see my angry face
Why did he feel the need to startle me?
Is he warning me that he could run me over?
And flatten me like the rat I saw
On our side of the road
With its intestines spread out for all to see?
I had let my anger break the serenity
Of my resolve to be aware of each moment
I lost my equilibrium.
Why did I get angry so quickly?