Cactus Rain

I've had just enough time to...   bear the stings of the cactus rain

Cactus and Cactus Rain outside my office one sunny day

Yesterday when the sun was hot

Of a sudden, it rains like needles

Take cover!

It’s the cactus rain, falling down

Like needles from Heaven

Piercing the ants, stabbing slugs

Spearing the fish, drowning cats

What it cannot kill, it hurts

Oh, how it hurts – the cactus rain

I am a cactus,

I hate the cactus rain!

Even the cactus doesn't like the cactus rain

I love the rain, most of the time. I love gentle rain that lasted for hours, like a mist cover. I love cool rain after the heat that brings immediate relief. I love heavy rain that smear the land into indistinctive shapes. I love violent rain that shakes and makes the coconut palm dance like one in trance. I love the rains at night when they raise the frogs’ sound. I love the rain, most of the time. But sometimes, it rains on my parade. Sometimes, it adds insult to injury. Sometimes, it makes me miserable and wet. Sometimes, it hurts like the damn cactus rain.

How I Love The Storm and The Rain. (雨中即景)

I've had just enough time to...   love rainy days

Taken from my office just before a storm...

Even as a child, I loved storms and I loved rains. No matter how violent the winds blasted and rattled. How they pushed against the windows like a wild animal trying to get in, I was never afraid. I was afraid of a lot of things but never a storm. I treated it like a loud friend who dropped in suddenly, unannounced, but who brought excitement to the dull existence of a monotone life.

I loved how the hawkers scrambled, how the housewives rushed to retrieve clothings still hanging on the lines, how the dogs barked impotently at a threat it cannot comprehend and how the smarter cat with a meow disappeared to the safest hiding place. I loved how the first few drops of rain dissipated into a mist after just a momentarily imprint on the hot paved road. Or how the light reddish brown laterite soil first took on a deeper tone, and then run off to be the first to form a puddle.

I loved the raindrops splashing against the window, how they run down like the tears of a broken heart. I loved how the coconut tree swayed its branches like a dancer in wild abundance, high above the other leafy trees that released their leaves to the wind. I loved the sound of a million chatters. The pitch according to whom they spoke  to; the zinc roof, the paved road or the monsoon drain. I loved the cool, moisture laden wind that brought relief against the heat. I’m happiest and saddest during the life of a storm.

The sight, sound and feel of the storm are now different for me. But I still love the storm and the rain.

_____________

The happiest rain song of my youth - 

雨中即景 - 刘文正 

Oktoberfest 2012 - Who Goes Out In The Rain?

I've had just enough time to...   go walking in the rain

Those who have company

Is not afraid of getting wet in the rain

The wheel also turns in stormy weather

Just the feeling is not the same, maybe better

The New Ghost will come a-visiting

As the Old Ghosts make way

I drink my sorrow in the rain

So no one see my tears mixed with the pain

When Life is short

Wet or dry, every day is a good day

Little girl crying in the rain

Why are you living me behind?

Little boy reply

No, not in stormy weather

A warm reassuring hand

Everything will be alright

Not minding the rain

___________

Walking down the street,
Kicking cans,
Looking at the billboards,
The also-rans,
Summing up the people,
Checking out the race,
Doing what I'm doing,
Feeling out of place,

Walking, walking,
In the rain.

Walking in the rain - Grace Jones

Oktoberfest 2012 - And The Rain Keeps Faliing.

I've had just enough time to...   go out in the rain.

Cupid points the arrow in the wrong direction

Now he can’t stop the rain from falling

That doesn’t stop the crowd from coming

Life goes on in stormy weather

But if it is too heavy, let seek shelter 

For under the same roof, all men are brothers

The rains on all heads drop

Alike on Gods and mortals

Why don’t you come in where it is warm and nice?

Sometimes it is safer in the rain

Will you go for a spin in the rain?

While others hurdles under the umbrellas

Or take a ride up to the clouds

Taking it up another layer

Will you live Life to the fullest?

Whether the day is sunny or it’s stormy weather?

________________

Whole world on my shoulders

Feeling older than I ought to be

Breathing in the cool air

Wet hair, I don't care 'cause I feel free

Walking In The Rain by Dan Koch

Part III – The Lady Met the Elephant on a Rainy Day

I've had just enough time to...   see the meeting of the lady and the elephant

Taken of the meeting of the lady and the elephant on one rainy morning...

...when heaven shed its tears over the River Kwai.

One early morning

A lady crossed a bridge

Under a curtain of teary rain

Met a lonesome elephant

Looking for love at the other end

They stood facing each other in silence

While the heaven wailed and screamed

It asked for love but the lady has none to give

Not the type it needs

They stood facing each other

And three hearts were broken

On that rainy day

How Can A Heart Hold So Much Sorrow?

I've had just enough time to...   hold some sorrow.

Taken in Taiping, Malaysia under the Rain Tree.

The still water 

Beneath the Rain Tree

Gathered the tears 

Of a thousand drops

Of hanging leaves 

Distressed by August tales

Of wandering clouds 

From a distant land

Where morning songs

Were drowned 

By thundering hooves

Stirring up a dust storm

Swept through the land

Into every home

Choking and stifling

And when the rain came

It was no salvation

Except burying everything 

In mud

Hidden 

Except for the tales 

Carried by the wind to 

The drifting clouds

Caught by the Rain Tree

Coalesced 

Into the pool beneath it

How can a heart hold so much sorrow?