"Like life, it is all or nothing."
Photo by Well Naves: Pexels.com
It is dark and I hear someone crying
as if in pain,
then angry.
It is the rising wind.
Heavy rain hits the window,
like someone throwing
small stones to get your attention,
but in handfuls.
I imagine being on an island
with a sheet metal roof;
how loud it would sound then,
like a landslide scrubbing you out,
or an alarm of sorts.
But I am in the city.
It is flat outside and the rain just sits -
we have had too much this month already
and the rivers are bursting their banks.
By summer we will wish for it again,
or at least the plants will.
Like life, it is all or nothing.
Some think this change is not real,
that the world does not respond to us,
but I know that is false.
I have heard of a place,
deep in the English woods,
where when dark,
if you play your music and sing patiently,
nightingales will mimic and sing back.
Edward Lees is an American who lives in London. During the day he works to help the environment and in the evenings he writes poetry. His works have been accepted for publication in various journals including Southern Humanities Review, Potomac Review, Moonpark Review, Amethyst Review, and Anthropocene Poetry Journal. He has been nominated for Best of the Net.