The Rain

The rains have arrived, 
An hour or so and it is beautiful, dampens the earth, glistens leaves, wets the playground equipment
But weeks and months of it, and then it swells and builds into a flood, sweeping homes, filling your lungs, separating families, orphaning children

The rains are amoral and blind
It does not care if you are a good person or a bad one
It does not see the colour of your skin
It does not care where you went to school, whether you were the dux, a wallflower, or the class clown
It does not check to see whether you dropped out or climbed all the way to the top
It does not care which footy team you barrack for
It falls equally on you whichever god you believe in
It will fall

It will fall on you if you are a couch potato or if you exercise four hours a day
It will fall on you whether you voted Liberal or Labor in your last election
It will fall in certain suburbs first but it will roll its way through all the postcodes eventually

The rain does not care if you are a child or a grandparent
Whether you are at the start of your journey or near its end
It does not look at your uniform, it will fall on your scrubs and your hi-vis, whether you rise early to bake or wake with the moon for your night shift

It does not care whether English is your first or second language
It is deaf to your pleas and your threats
It does not care if you are in a relationship, single, divorced or if ‘it’s complicated’
It does not care if you are a dog lover or cat enthusiast
It does not look at your bank account, your social media or your passport to decide whether or not to fall on you

The rain does not care if you believe in it or not
The rain is not changed by your opinion of it
It does not care if you are scared of it, or if you are bravely defiant
It will fall, and fall on us all.

The only thing the rains respect is whether you have chosen shelter
A raised umbrella, a poncho with a rolled-up sleeve,
We may still get wet but we won’t be drenched.