The Veranda Where My Father Counts the Rain

Lyrics

The monsoon came early to the old front porch
He pulled his chair to the railing where he always sat
His hands are slower now on the folded paper
But he still knows the sound of every roof and every drain

He used to carry me on his shoulders through the flood
Laughing at the puddles, never counting what it cost
Now I hold the umbrella and I match his careful steps
And the water runs beside us like the years we cannot stop

He says the rain has manners
It always knocks before it comes

So I sit beside my father on the veranda
Counting every drop that falls like a day
He is older, I am older, and the rain is the same
Falling soft on all the things we never say
Stay a little longer, let the thunder roll
I am learning how to listen to the rain

He taps the rhythm on the arm of the chair
A song from long ago he never learned the words to
I hum the tune beside him and he smiles without a sound
And the evening gathers round us with the lamp turned low

There will be a monsoon when this chair is empty
I will sit here anyway and listen for his voice
In the dripping of the gutter, in the steady, patient rain
In the way he counted, one by one, to keep us safe

So I sit beside my father on the veranda
Counting every drop that falls like a day
He is older, I am older, and the rain is the same
Falling soft on all the things we never say
Stay a little longer, let the thunder roll
I am learning how to listen to the rain

One by one by one
I am learning how to listen to the rain