Rain

With no atmospheric visuals of its approach,

my father could sniff out impending rain;

a skill he had picked up as a young radio officer

and unexpectedly demonstrated a few miles 

off Harwich and halfway the seventies 

as we watched a summer sea absorb 

the aquatints of a fading holiday destination - 

he taught me to recognize the fresh, sweet

smell which today rolled in ahead 

of memories I had not seen coming.