Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Another rainy day in Portland


How dreary is the pale sunlight of spring
That paints the skyward facets of the clouds
Which drizzle on the Roseland's ev'ry thing
And soften shapes to gray, besotted shrouds?

Could not Apollo for us intervene
And lift the gray oppression from our souls?
We glimpse his glory in the weakened sheen
But hides he yet behind the nimbus ghouls;

To taunt us thusly seems to me unfair,
So long we've braved the weeping of the skies,
And yearned to see his fiery visage glare,
To offer him salute with shaded eyes;

I know complaint doth offer small reward
But could he not one sunny day afford?

3 comments:

Shus li said...

AB-FAB! This is a wonderful poem.

Good to know that it's not just notoriously gray Coos Co. that is drowning everyone.

Ridwan said...

I lived in PDX for almost 8 years and can't remember ever coming to terms with the rain.

In my first few weeks I heard the most ridiculous comment from a local weatherperson on TV when he said: "we have had five days of dry weather this first week of November, just when this dry spell will break I am not gonna guess."

I remember that comment word for word because it pressed against my consciousness.

I grew up in the small Karoo in South Africa and rain breaks up the dry weather and not the other way around.

Still, the wet in PDX is unreal and I can't say that it ever brought me anything but stress.

When my friend from Maryland left PDX for the east coast he told me that he sometimes misses the weather in PDX, and when he does he gets dressed in his Sunday best and stands under the shower to remind him why he left in the first place.

Sorry Dade, I know you can use some sun right now ... I would send you some from Kimberley right now but will you believe me if I told you it is raining cats and dogs as I write.

True brother, the weather here has become weird in recent years ... even the grass out in the veld is green.

Peace to you,
Ridwan

J. Kevin James said...

Great poetry Dade!! I particularly like the...

"And yearned to see his fiery visage glare,
To offer him salute with shaded eyes;"

Such a great play on words...painting a perfect picture of one shading their eyes from the sun's glare.