Where It Falls

Rain started, slowly filling a parched earth,
A few drops,
Eager crops
Cupped to catch the liquid mirth
Where it falls.

Phit … phit … phit, mudprints in red dust,
Droplets merging,
Puddles surging
Across acres of cracked, curled crust,
Where it falls.

Heavier now, steady and splashing,
Rivulets forming,
All of it storming,
Menacing thunderclouds flashing
Where it falls.

Afternoon darkness nests in deep gray,
Angry downpour,
Dry desert floor
No more as gullies and washes stray
Where it falls.

Miry waters rising fast, debris blocks,
Walls collapse,
Mud mishaps,
Steep banks slip slowly over rocks
Where it falls.

Approaching sound, a sucking, muffled roar
Above wonder,
Beneath thunder,
Waves of liquid earth advancing before
Where it falls.

Rain begins to pass, drifting to the east,
Floodwaters seep
In cracked earth deep,
Blossoming in springtime to show at least
Where it falls.