Today It Rained

Today it rained
Today pedestrians
Passed like shrouds
Heads down
Faces hidden
Shoulder tense

Today the horizon
Lay straight ahead
Gray clouds
On gray sky
Grazing gray land

Today strangers
Sallow-faced
Resentful
Dutifully followed
Sniffing dogs
On straining leashes

Today the dogwood
Blossomed
Boughs bowed heavy
In the rain

Finches flitted,
Carrying bramble
To build a home
in their branches.