September Rain

So here we are, three leap days later, and it's Tuesday again.

SEPTEMBER RAIN

for Dieter M. Gräf

Past autobahn construction sites,

threats

of traffic. Past television

towers

atop Hessian hills. Past

buzzards

soaring between sudden

showers,

kestrels hovering over

prey,

flocks of starlings

descending

into roadside trees. Past a freshly

plowed

field of crows. Through the

cloud

of spray from asphalt. Through

slaps

of rain from overpasses. Past

airplanes

starting and landing over the

skyscrapers

of Frankfurt. Everything standing, even

ruined

medieval castles perched

strategically

on the passing bluffs.

Passed

by a car from Cologne — how the cathedral

withstood

and withstood the air

raids.

The rain

clears;

soon we'll be home, safe as

towers.

— 16-17 September 2001