ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
‘what does thunder look like?’
we sat on my sun porch roof. close enough that our shoulders touched. when the sky rumbled, it vibrated in our chests. and we felt it between each other too.
‘it looks like lightning.’
he stared out at the secret forest in my backyard. it wasn’t really a forest, or secret. it was my neighbor’s yard, but it was the closest thing to a wild place.
‘no. lightning looks like lightning. what does thunder look like?’
i stared at him. at his profile against the grey clouds that hung level with our heads. when we were on the roof, we were far away. untouchable. unreachable.
‘i suppose it looks invisible, since you can’t see sound.’
there was lots of sound here. not noise, but sound. out on the roof, i could look out and see the trees dip and shush, dip and shush. i could see wind pull and grab and howl. i could see birds carried like musical notes on the invisible skyway. i could see all the sounds.
‘can’t you? i can see sound.’
he looked at me and i looked at the backyard forest. i could feel the suppressed intrigue rolling off him like wavelets. ebbing from his sea-green eyes.
‘show me. what does that look like?’
he held out his palm, catching a single raindrop as a hundred duplicates tapped a slow rhythm on everything around us. on the roof, on the gutter, on the trees. on our heads and shoulders.
‘it looks like… breath.’
i closed my eyes and watched.
‘breath? but breath doesn’t look like anything either.’
he pushed his hood back, blinking as the drops ran paths down his face. he imagined that they were her fingers.
‘breath… like the sound of it when someone is sleeping next to you. when their chest goes up and down. when they exhale in the winter. breath.’
how many ways could i describe breath? it is a sign of life. it is the sound of continuance and renewal. something you couldn't hold in.
‘so… you’re saying the rain is breathing.’
he held real still. the raw energy in the air tickled his neck milliseconds before white-blue cracks burned their images behind our eyelids. we both knew that you had to close your eyes just after the flash, if you wanted to get to look at it longer.
‘no. the rain is breath.’
five mississippi’s later i shuddered as our world shook with rolling rumbles. i felt it in my belly. i felt it with my hand, soaking it into my palm and pressing it to my chest. boom-boom. rumble rumble.
‘what is breathing the rain?’
we both opened our eyes and stared at the forest again. the rain was now falling silver in his eyes.
‘we are. it is. all of it, all of us.’
i saw the movement and the sound rising from it all. the trees, the grass, the animals, the earth. the earth with it’s maternal soil, compressed lovingly under the puddles and tree roots. us. us who contained the pulse of it all. we were given the heartbeat.
‘…it’s refreshing.’
he breathed in the smell of the earth’s breath.
‘it’s rebirth. it’s reawakening. it’s rejuvenation and revival.’
and it was given as a gift. i received it. so did he, and so did it all. i heard the relief in the forest and the offering in the air.
‘it’s breath.’
he saw the quiver of it around him. the rise and fall of it’s chest.
‘you can see it?’
i smiled and saw it in his eyes.
‘and hear it.’
he put his hand on my chest, feeling the heartbeat, the rumble, and the breath.
‘do you see that?’
thunder shouted from the clouds and splayed it’s flash of teeth at us and our forest.
‘it’s looks like audacity…’
…intrepidity, valor, fearlessness.
Suggested Collections
the product of being insightful while listening to the rain from my window. (; hope you notice the details i so lovingly worked in.
not sure what category to stick this in. :/
not sure what category to stick this in. :/
© 2009 - 2024 Zaratops
Comments22
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
I def. DO love all the details you put into this.