dancin in the rain

I realize I talk about weather a lot, and you know what? That's fine. It's really just a myth made up by some cynical asshole hipsters or something that weather is a boring topic of conversation. How could it be true, when we are universally subject to its happenings?

Last week everyone was in euphoria thanks to the beautifully warm and sunny days around here. But oh wait. As if the air wasn't bad enough in Madrid, a "bubble" of thick, filthy air just settled right over the city, sending contamination rates soaring. The warm, still atmosphere was rampant with befouled particles. Many people didn't get to enjoy it much, last week was tough for these folks as the common cold spread like wildfire. Those who could frolic about the city, well, it was bitter-sweet. The helpless sun beckoned us to enjoy the fresh air, which was so far from fresh you could feel it in your dirty lungs.

The rain finally came today and surely did something to clean the air a bit. I was thinking of this wonderful children's book, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, by Verna Aardema. A bit lengthy I know, but just read it aloud to yourself and enjoy a few minutes of culminating rhymes and rhythm:

This is the great Kapiti Plain,

All fresh and green from the African rains—

A sea of grass for the ground birds to nest in,

And patches of shade for wild creatures to rest in;

With acacia trees for giraffes to browse on,

And grass for the herdsmen to pasture their cows on.

But one year the rains were so very belated,

That all of the big wild creatures migrated.

Then Ki-pat helped to end that terrible drought—

And this story tells how it all came about!

This is the cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This is the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

These are the cows,

All hungry and dry,

Who mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This is Ki-pat,

Who watched his herd as he stood on one leg,

Like the big stork bird;

Ki-pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry,

They mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This is the eagle who dropped a feather,

A feather that helped to change the weather.

It fell near Ki-pat,

Who watched his herd

As he stood on one leg, like the big stork bird;

Ki-pat, whose cows

were so hungry and dry,

They mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This is the arrow

Ki-pat put together,

With a slender stick and an eagle feather;

From the eagle who happened

To drop a feather,

A feather that helped to change the weather.

It fell near Ki-pat,

Who watched his herd

As he stood on one leg, like the big stork bird;

Ki-pat, whose cows

Were so hungry and dry,

They mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This is the bow,

So long and strong,

And strung with a string, a leather thong;

A bow for the arrow

Ki-pat put together,

With a slender stick and an eagle feather;

From the eagle,

Who happened to drop a feather,

A feather that helped to change the weather.

It fell near Ki-pat,

Who watched his herd

As he stood on one leg, like a big stork bird;

Ki-pat, whose cows

Were so hungry and dry

They mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

This was the shot

That pierced the cloud

And loosed the rain with thunder LOUD!

A shot from the bow,

So long and strong,

And strung with a string, a leather thong;

A bow for the arrow

Ki-pat put together,

With a slender stick and an eagle feather;

From the eagle who happened

To drop a feather,

A feather that helped to change the weather.

It fell near Ki-pat,

Who watched his herd

As he stood on one leg, like the big stork bird;

Ki-pat, whose cows

Were so hungry and dry,

They mooed for the rain to fall from the sky;

To green-up the grass,

All brown and dead,

That needed the rain from the cloud overhead—

The big, black cloud,

All heavy with rain,

That shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.

So the grass grew green,

And the cattle fat!

And Ki-pat got a wife

And a little Ki-pat—

Who tends the cows now,

And shoots down the rain,

When black clouds shadow Kapiti Plain.