Prayer to the Rain God

Oh, hard rain that drums on the tin eaves,
Smacks the blacktop with nonstop splattering,
Raps the window glass with each wind gust,
And spouts out the drain pipe an artesian spring;
Oh, anti-liturgical benediction;
Oh, rampant and wanton redemption;
Oh, most holy gully-washer and moisture-laden westerly offshore flow:

Make frothing brooks in the dry ditches
And roiling creek beds out of rock-strewn arroyos;
Swell the stream to a leaping, swirling, dusky rush,
And let it billow out a silt cloud into the big river.
Drench all desire and longing,
All pleasure and depression,
All scheming and regret,
Be they solitary leaf or uprooted tree,
And, in the wild ebullient overflow,
Sweep them out to sea.