The Exorcism of Rain

The rain is nature's best exorcist. Look how it cleanses everything it touches, how the harshest of pavements, sharp as a bone put to the whetstone, is supple as sealskin afterwards. Look how it dispels an afternoon's worth of pain by simply emptying out its pockets. Look how it distracts, how it draws out everything weighing down our bodies. Look how the trees extend their hands for its help - to rid themselves of the spirits crumpling up their faces. We stuck out our tongues as children to taste its power. How the open window calls us again — like a prayer, like some meaningful part of the plan.

Christian Ward is a UK-based writer who can be recently found in Wild Court, The Globe Review, Pink Apple Press, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Rappahannock Review, South Florida Poetry Journal and Double Speak.