And Then It Rained

Within the heat-percolating atmosphere
of a midsummer afternoon where
small, furry creatures seek elusive
shelter from the humid oven their
forested habitat has become
long-fingered shadows cast by a
shimmering sun slowly fade as
blue sky becomes a platinum dome.
Soon, the gloom of early twilight
absorbs furtive movement and sound
as bruised purple-grey clouds mount
the sky and a fierce deluge accompanies
the relentless drumbeats of thunder
drenching the forest with its soil-cracked
forest floor, its distressed foliage
turning the colours of premature
autumn, the rain slickening and
glistening from treetop canopy down
to the forest floor, tumbling down its
ravined sides to find welcome in 
the creek below, flooding and dashing 
in muddy spirals of fallen detritus to
replenish a summer prepared to 
surrender the timely order of its season.