Caught Out

These be the sweltering dog-days of summer
when nights fester in high humidity and
people toss sleepless in their beds at night
seeking shelter from the merciless sun in
daylight hours and when a week of skies
shrouded in murky clouds hurled forward
and backward by violent winds that barely
lift the heat from the atmosphere threaten
rain and violent thunderstorms. Leading us
to take precautions when setting out on our
woodland hikes through forest trails; despite
the overwhelming closeness of the moist heat
trudging with backpacks of raingear and
invariably returning dry for no storms nor
rain interrupted our sojourn in the forest.
Leading us to the reassurance that despite
appearance to the contrary we could set out
under dark clouds shutting out the light of
the day sans raingear only to find, deep in
the embrace of the forest thunder rumbling
deeply above and soon rain tumbling out
of the sky anxious to penetrate the broad
green canopy of the forest for even that
canopy cannot withstand the force of torrential
rain. Yet though rain did fall, it was not that
accompanying the fierceness of the battle
above and we discovered exiting the forest
that the world outside its confines absorbed
the brunt of the storm as we emerged dry.