Dave Bonta's piece follows a speaker walking through a downpour and paying close attention to everything in it. It opens with a small "true fable": toadstool spores rise, help form raindrops, and fall again, so the rain and the living things below it are bound together. From there the speaker moves through a haiku-like moment, where the smell of wet rhododendrons brings back "Pop-pop's place," and then through short, plain statements of wonder at how textured the world is.
The speaker feels delight, but also a quiet humility. "Whatever I tell myself, it's never enough," they admit, and the answer they find is listening. Mosquitoes, crickets, a truck, a jet, and their own footsteps all become "music if I let it."
The mood is gentle, curious, and a little playful. The closing image of rain as an "over enthusiastic masseuse" ends the piece with humor and a sense of comfort, as if the speaker has accepted the storm.