At work I go for some water,
Outside it begins pouring rain.
A storm.
I watch from the window,
The sharp silhouettes of the
Surrounding buildings burnished
From the storm;
I watch moving cars and
Taxis and buses,
And then goes a flash of light,
A CRACK.

This makes me happy,
Watching the rain, the repeating
Flashes of lightning
Listening to thunder booming,
The thickness of the heat.
People come and go from the station, living
Life amongst a natural world we can’t
Understand.
And we continue.
We run through the rain
And wipe our foreheads from the heat;
We work and laugh and love.

We exist.

Life goes on.

And we get to
Experience such marvelous beauty,
Not just the forces of nature,
But the force that is
The beating heart which watches
Unknowing,
And wonders,
And waits
For the next bolt of lightning to strike.

I imagine the world I look upon hundreds,
Thousands of years ago.
Japan bare of industry,
Drenched in rain all the same.
Fires burn, life flourishes,
Humans fight and love all the same.
Looking through the glass in
An air-conditioned room,
I’m still just looking
At an ancient island.

My arms move;
Before I can think and tell them to,
They move of their own volition.
Try to think your body into action.
You can’t. It’s an instinct,
Strange — like an animal;
We’re still just animals, conscious beasts
Sprinting too fast towards the future.
But what’s changed; I watch
The summer storm.

The rain subsides.
Slate glass clouds sail across
The pale blue, evening moon
Backlit in gold,
Dusk.
The air’s cool from rain.
My animal instincts come alive.
I just want to watch the sky.