A dismal shroud slunk

From slackened hands,

Dense rain draped the valley

In its musty, velvet folds,

Dogfighting flurries of

Paper airplanes wavered,

Plummeted under those whistling bombs,

Pelting brusies to bloom

On fragile wings,

Unfurling their tender skin,

Infant petals pushed

savagely into the downpour,

The drowning arms of grass

Grappling desperately for ledge or limb,

Stalky necks stretched

Above the floodline

And dredged from the wreckage,

Luminescent smiles,

Encased like flitting fish

Behind rain-run window panes.