Snails once waltzed across the gritty walk
As I dodged raindrops with the morning paper.
Or was it I who waltzed around them,
So much in a hurry, they not so much?
Dry now, these walkways and river beds.
Dry now, these grasses and hillsides.
No green in the hills this January,
Too much gold in the golden state.
Lord of slow happy snails,
Come again this way with winter rains.
Come to us slowly, come to us abundantly,
Come to our fields and our forests,
Our gardens and our gutters.
Turn our hearts to rhythm and sabbath
And the time it takes for trees to grow tall
And nations to learn compassion and peace.
And let justice roll down like waters,
Like winter rains, like showers of soaking sustenance,
And righteousness like an everflowing stream.
Come again this way.
1.21.14
