It looked like
It was going to storm
And you know what we got?
Everything but the rain
Everything but the rain
Had twelve men out there
Working ‘round the clock
Using up all my money
Because of what the guy
On the radio said
Twelve men
And not a drop of rain
What do you expect me
To say to all that?
The fact is—
The way you work the land?
It’s temporary
It gives you a little bit
And then it waits a few years
And takes what it gave you
Plus interest
The land is a shark
Just like the guys
My father used to gamble with
You don’t win
You just get put on a leash
And left to your devices
People look at me
And think they could have done better
A more educated man
Would have had it
All figured out
I know that’s what on
Their mind
But there’s no books
That talk about three days
Of black clouds
And low thunder
That turn around into nothing
They don’t teach you
How to parse what the weather man says
When he’s telling you
It’s going to come down
Like rivers
Like rivers
Your father’s lying in bed
Hooked up to machines
He can’t afford to have
And can’t afford not to
And he tells you
Which men to hire
Because it’s gonna rain
Even dying men
Don’t come
With wisdom anymore
I sit out on that porch
And I wait for it to rain
The wind kicks up
The trees shudder
But nothing
Just the promise
Of a nightmare
When I step off the porch
And spit towards the house
I notice the window to my dad’s room
Covered up with a black curtain
Mom must have done that
In the days since it happened
See, Dad didn’t live to see the rain
But he thought he was coming
He was sure of it
And if he knew
It never did
His soul would be lost somewhere
Even the lord wouldn’t be able to fetch it
So I try my damndest
To get a rain going
I call in the twelve men
From the field
And together we form a circle
Right outside that room
Where his body became a body
And nothing else
The black clouds separate
The thunder moves off
To some other unlucky bastard’s homestead
But I stand there
And one by one
Those twelve men
Go back to what they’re doing
One or two just go home
I’m not moving though
Not until I get my rain
The sun puts itself to bed
The crickets find their way
To the silence
A dog gives birth to a litter
And only two
Are going to survive
Out of the corner of my eye
I see lightning
Just a flash—but enough
Enough to keep me standing there
Enough to get
What was promised
To me
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