El Greco’s TOLEDO
By Jesse Lehman
The rain has stopped.
Everything is sodden.
Terrified people,
Poking their heads out of windows and doors.
Grass becomes dry.
Trees stretch their arms up, up to the sky.
The sky is unforgiving and hate-filled.
Yet a ray of hope is present.
Sunshine, clear, warm, loving warmth,
Breaks through the gloomy clouds.
Children run out into the streets and frolic in the puddles.
Men return to their shops and fields,
While the women proceed with their daily business.
Pastores and herds depart in search of lush and safe feeding grounds.
Soon life will return to normal.
Schools and shops and offices will reopen.
People will smile, laugh, rejoice, and weep.
Happiness and sadness,
Relief and regret.
Birth and death.
Life will return to normal.
The river, swollen by the unceasing rain,
Is crowded with fishermen,
Trying to make a living.
Fish dart between nets,
Seeming to mock the hapless men.
Some with nets, some with poles,
All just trying to survive.
On the horizon, rain still pelts down,
Causing outlying towns and cities to recede within their walls.
Their shops and halls are boarded up,
People cowering in their houses,
Trying, with all their might,
To ignore the hammering, crashing sounds of the rain.
There is no hope among them.
In the city in the foreground,
The trees flourish once again, the new growth sprouts,
For from sadness, happiness springs.
Across the bridge trundle carts of all sizes,
Rekindling trade between estranged towns.
Merchants exchange small talk as they move into the city,
Interspersed among the shrill cries of varied wares.
However, it may rain again,
People may be forlorn and disheartened.
Children may weep,
And parents may worry.
Fields may flood,
And shops and offices may be boarded up again.
There will be despair,
But we must sway with changes.