flowers and leaves

As I walk up the hill
from a blue sky a hard rain falls,
driving leaves and flowers to the ground.
As I shelter briefly a man
with a broom and a shovel and a puffed-out black bin bag
shouts
Good morning!
It’s like the confetti after a wedding
or after the Lord Mayor’s Show!
Behind him, the bag tips over and a stream
of brown and pink and green gutters down the street.
Told you! he shouts. Just like it!

I am not crying

I am not crying
I have rain in my eyes
And the rain is summer rain
The rain that nature lends

I am not crying
I have rain in my eyes
And the rain is the softest rain
That the autumn season sends

I am not crying
I have rain in my eyes
And the rain is winter rain
The rain that never ends

I am not crying
I have rain in my eyes
I have rain in my eyes