Rain

Clouds above the stricken fields,
Condensing promises of liquidity
Build and bellow above the parched soil.
The old haggard man looks up, and smiles:
The first drop touches his cracked brow.

Was that a raindrop or a tear?
The eager earth accepts both offerings.
Her desire is insatiable,
Her thirst unquenchable.
Love descends.

Warm mud, one part dust, and aqua vitae,
Fulfills the sacred promise.
Life returns to Barrenness as surely as
Sarah's womb brought forth Isaac;
Out of desert, born of longing: Blood tears.

The old man collapses,
Burying his face in the fecundity.
His life departs, the promise is fulfilled.
The streams of blood become a trickle:
His body, her nourishment.