The Coming Of The First Spring Rain Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Eugene Marais)

There are big game running
that suddenly gathers, snort and bark,
springbucks jumping, playing with their heads and walking nearer
and in the eyes of each one there is expectation and hope,

even the spitting cobra arches its back
when the guinea fowl down at the march call,
when thunder like drums rattle far away,
when even the small things under the earth crawl and whimper
and both animal and man wonder how to interpret the sudden shade

and the plain is wide and the clouds are blue-black
when everyone beholds the coming of the rain,
see how the rings around her feet shine in the distance
and hear the patter of her dance

and the nostrils of the game are open
to catch her smell if she wants to sneak past
and big joy is among all of the animals
as the rain has come with her rainbow cloak
and there are tranquillity and new life everywhere.

[Reference: 'Die dans van die reën' (the dance of the rain) by Eugene Marais.]