Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Rain & Harvest to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
When the drizzle came to town on a grey and gloomy day,
The umbrellas rose like flowers and they marched along the way.
There were reds and greens and yellows, and a polka-dotted blue,
And a big black one for grandpa with a handle worn askew.
They bobbed above the pavements like a river made of hats,
Dodging puddles, dodging cyclists, dodging one tall, drowsy cat.
The baker held a cake box, and the postman held his mail,
And they shared a shelter under one big shop's dripping rail.
A boy spun round his handle, and a girl spun round her hood,
And the rain sang out a rhythm, and it sounded very good.
So when the sky is weeping, let us lift up something bright,
For a parade of little colours makes the gloomy day feel right.
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Commentary
A rainy day can look like a moving garden when everyone opens an umbrella. This cheerful poem watches a town parade under its colourful canopies.
“When the drizzle came to town on a grey and gloomy day, the umbrellas rose like flowers.” There are “reds and greens and yellows, and a polka-dotted blue,” and “a big black one for grandpa.” They bob “like a river made of hats,” “dodging puddles, dodging cyclists.”
The baker holds “a cake box,” the postman his mail, and they share “a shelter” under a shop’s dripping rail. Children spin their handles and hoods, and “the rain sang out a rhythm.” The poem ends by saying that “a parade of little colours makes the gloomy day feel right.”