Rain Lilies

Rain Lilies

with a phrase from James Crews

Thinking, thinking,
running the tongue of your mind
over the worries on your list,
you clip the leash onto your dog's collar,
pull your bike out from the garage.
Together, you roam the moonlit streets,
quiet in the mid-night. An owl hoots
from his roost in a tree and something
in you settles with his call. You come
back to yourself, or perhaps to the world –
the swish of the tires, the trotting rhythm
of your dog's paws as she walks beside you,
the call and response of your breath.
After three days of heavy rain, the green
grass of the park is covered in a white blanket
of rain lilies – hundreds of small flowers
open-throated to the black sky. It had been
weeks without wet, weeks of stubborn heat,
and you'd forgotten how the rain lilies come,
how life brings renewal. The crust of moon,
the hoot of the owl, your dog's deep sniff
of the earth are how you remember.

Before I moved to south Texas, I'd never head of rain lilies. But now they're one of my favorite parts of the land here. Rain lilies are true to their name: they bloom after several days of heavy rain. The grass is bare and then, suddenly, seemingly overnight, you see a riot of white or pink blooms.

Rain lilies never cease to greet me at a time when I need a reminder that there is possibility, that life brings continual renewal. Perhaps the rain lilies may do the same for you.

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With a grateful heart, Karly