Rainy Days

I didn’t like rainy days because

we had to stay indoors.

Grandma cooking at the stove

and mom was canning lots of corn.

Dad would come and check on us

making sure we were all inside.

He would turn, and go back out;

heading to the barn.

We need the rain to grow the crops,

to grow vegetables and gardens, too.

We need the rain to grow the grass,

which later we will cut.

Rainy days are better days for 

hanging out inside, for reading 

books, and playing games and 

welcoming our guests.

When it got busy in the house,

mom would kick us out.

We would run and dance and play

beneath the dripping hemlock trees.

We’d find the crick and splash in it

and jump into the pool. We’d sometimes

linger beside the road in the gutter 

so full of rain. 

The rain outside refreshes us and 

also helps us hide from being in 

the hair of all the elders in our home.

Come to think of it, the rain's 

not so bad, we always found 

something fun to do.

Written by The Villa Poets, residents of Victorian Villa / Dallastown Nursing Center, York County, Pennsylvania - - written in round-robin fashion (one resident adds a line or two as we go around the group).