Trapped in the doldrums of an unseasonably cool and wet August, it’s still too hot and dry for my blood.
An Oklahoma summer thunderstorm that powers across the plains is by far one of my most favorite emotional releases, and something I could use about now. August brings with it the tension of dry heat, that inexplicable feeling of constant momentary expectation, as if you were standing on the cliffs over a lake of fire. There’s always some pending disaster just on the edge of perception, as if the ground beneath your feet were about to give way, and the heat is too stifling for you to do anything but stand there in fearful awe.
Today, a few desperate drops of rain sped towards earth in the hope of washing the ground. But as water and fire converged, the heat won today’s battle. It was a pitiful excuse for the downpour that I wanted, no… needed.
“Rain on my skin, I feel the gentle summer wind. In your eyes, I can see the clear blue skies.”
There’s something therapeutic about standing in the middle of the rain, watching the lighting split open the night sky and shatter the visual silence. Watching as the thunderheads race above me, the deep devilish amber city lights reflecting off of their grey-white underbellies. Listening for the distant timpani explosions of cacophonous storm.
“Feels so divine. Only one thing on my mind… I’m alive. Let the island spirit shine.”
But not today, not this August. What clouds we do have are choked and strained as the scorching sun burns them away, casting shadows of heat on every surface. The temperature soars, and time comes to a delerious crawl as even the workings of clocks seem to have trouble moving in the oppressive temperature.
“I wanna discover, I don’t wanna make believe. Let it rain… Down on me. Let it rain down, Let it rain.”
The first good rain after exiting the month of August and entering that clove of seasons, I will be found standing in the middle of the largest puddle I can find, letting the sky fall down upon me, soaking me to my very core, washing all of the imprints of August away.
I don’t care what I look like. I don’t care who laughs at me. The more it pours, the cleaner I get.
“Let it rain, Let it colour all my skin. Let it rain, Wash away my doubts and pain.” –Lyrics by 4 Strings, “Let it Rain”
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