Rain In The Winter

"Let the rain beat upon your head

with liquid drops ... I love the rain."

Langston Hughes

In the winter when the rain is cold and the sun is shinning elsewhere, I feel chilled to the bone. The sky with thick gray blankets stifle my visions of free floating in the sky.  The heaviness in the atmosphere presses upon my head.  I have not always disliked rain. 

I used to walk in the rain with my high school friend, laughing hysterically as we devoured ice cream cones.  On a screened in porch protected from the rain, I watched my little ones play as time enveloped us in love.  The porch swing stacked with pillows and a blanket comforted me as I watched tears falling from the sky.  Dancing in the rain with my grandchild splashed the blues away. 

Rain is a shape shifter, sometimes being a gentle sprinkle in the spring or a thunderous high wind rage.  It can nourish or debilitate.  It can form a gentle flow or expand outside of boundaries.  It can promote growth or death.  Rain in the winter imprisons me inside, waiting for the sun to return to the sky.