Rain

When I rain

I rain on plastic tents

stretched over heating vents

where the homeless sleep on cold nights

in the cold, cold cities.

In southern towns

I pound tin roofs—

slanting shanty roofs

across the railroad tracks.

There I drum a slum song

to children asleep in one bed.

Under the bridge,

an old man in a dirty sleeping bag

slips into a drunken doze.

He dreams of better days

when he was a young buck,

dancing like rain

on top of the world.

© Peg Latham,  1993

Rain in Kolkata
Photo by Monster eagle
from Wikimedia Commons