Rainforest Rain

by The Cowl Editor on September 26, 2019


Poetry


by Gabriela Baron ’20

The sky turns a soft gray and skeleton trees
breathe in life as the wind compels them
to stretch out their arms.
Animals in the forest scurry,
smelling the imminent rain.
Red cardinals take shelter in their sanctuary,
eastern box turtles retreat to their shells,
and squirrels dart up maple, oak, and hickory trees.

Water is paint.
It dyes hair a darker hue,
transforms buds to sunflower yellow,
ripens red raspberries,
and brightens lush grass.

One drop of rain hits a cardinal.
It trickles down its back leaving a bright royal blue trail.
The bird ruffles its feathers, trying to shake off the color
but the blue remains.
Droplets land on an eastern box turtle,
its hard shell a canvas for a splatter painting of fuchsia, lilac, and peach.
Thunder howls and the rain drenches the squirrels:
one turquoise, another crimson, and others plum.
The rainbow rain showers over the grass, moss, and trees,
flooding the forest with color.
The cardinals leave their shelter,
the turtles dawdle through the grass,
and the squirrels sprint down tree trunks,
no longer scared of a rain.

Rainbow in a forest during a rainstorm
Photo courtesy of unsplash.com