Saturday, December 05, 2009

Gravity (and a Southern rainstorm)

The clouds roll in like Poseidon on his chariot of waves, across the expanse above. The voice of thunderclaps shatter the silence as what was dark becomes light as day for a brief moment. The moon washes out, or perhaps hides her face while none can see her, as lightning illumines the earth - well, at least the part I can see. No drops of water serve as messengers, no precursors given.

Then all torrents break loose.

Someone turned on the cosmic showerhead to drown and drench me. Why does it smell so fresh when I know it is bringing with each little drop the "impurities" of the air - smog, dust, pollen, and all of China's pollution? But I don't smell chow mein - not even as the drops get bigger. I smell freshness, and it is lovely.

Over my face and down my neck the streams descend - apparently gravity can even bully these storms around. Pulling, always pulling everything to that place called "ground". Ground may not be the prettiest thing ever, dull, brown and rocky, but it has gravity on its side. Perhaps gravity knows something I don't. I know that it keeps me here on the ground, and right now pulls all the elements down to it. I have become merely a bridge from sky to ground, with water walking (sometimes running) over me.

I seek power, not for myself, but in anything which man cannot contain. This rain has power, this gravity has power, this wind (oh, this wind!) has power - and NOTHING man can do could contain it or stop it, govern, harness, or rule it. So I love it. And so does my hair. It likes to break out of its bun and be free and wild, surrendered to the forces. Powerless, alone, free; if it stormed like this everyday I might just start a revolution. I don't know against who or what, but I know gravity would be on my side.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful writing, Nicole. The thermometer is reading ten degrees, and everything from my nose hairs to the skeletal blades of grass in the lawn are brittle. If wasn't too cold for snow, gravity would be pulling the flakes down just a little bit slower.

Pilgrim said...

Your comment made me laugh, Tim, because I used to love the feeling of my nose hairs being frozen!

Jason said...

I especially liked the bit about your body being a bridge between the sky and the ground. It forced me to imagine the dropletts as people, hustling and bustling from your head to your toes.

Phil said...

I always thought chow mien was an Americanized dish and China's coal dust is probably just a black as Pennsylvania's anthracite. Bottom line is at least you are getting rain and I hear the temps there have hit in the 70's lately. Last week the Arbor Day Foundation sent me ten blue spruce to plant and the ground is frozen--probably until May. Glad to hear you are out and about and Texas is getting some rain!