The Day the Rain Began

First Things includes several poems in every issue. I liked this one (in the March 2012 issue) by Duane K. Caylor. It's based on Genesis 7:12 and called "The Day the Rain Began."

Today seemed just an ordinary day.

The sun rose like an irritated eye;

wives cooked rice pancakes; children went to play

at tag in dusty fields or caught frogs by

the bank of the Euphrates; while the men

took to the brick kilns, potters' wheels, and plows;

lovers arose to make love once again;

and old men at the gate weighed claims and vows.

But now this afternoon, things have grown tense.

Anxiety as flour-fine as sand

from Aram fills our hearts as we watch dense

cloud ziggurats grow tall above the land,

and weather warnings in cuneiform

alert us of a coming thunderstorm.