Rains

[This sonnet is indebted to Onitsura in Hitorigoto and R. H. Blyth]

The rains of spring as showers are clear and cool

Like Baby Jesus’ eyes in manger laid.

The longer rains are wholesome hearted, pool

Up, heaven’s crystal sea, all sadness paid.

Spring rains, drawn out, are like a loveless nun,

She still and lonely.  Later summer rains

Loll, even lonelier.  They mock the sun.

Their melancholy slumps like sodden manes

On banished lions.  Autumn rains are deep,

Too deep, unfathomable, deep in souls,

Too deep and stretched.  They find a place to seep

Through hearts.  Fall’s rains find wounds and gnawing holes.

  The winter’s rains are loneliest.  They crawl,

    Then heave and pierce, the emptiest of all.

©