9th Poem: The Rain

The northern tip of Sumatra, Rain, yesterday January 21 2023 was hit by heavy rain all day long. As a result, there was flooding in several areas. My place is not flooded. We are on a plateau that is higher than sea water.

Rain, I like rain, if you don't want to go anywhere. Or, I like rain if the rain that falls doesn't wet me even though I go everywhere, when it rains. I like to watch the rain from inside the house, or from any building that has a roof.

Drought

For those of us who live on the equator, in rainfed tropical forest areas, rain is something we are used to. In fact, we depend on the rain for life. If the dry season is longer than usual, then we will face great difficulties, our fields will dry up, our livestock will die, our gardens will fail, our wells will dry up. It was a disaster.

Long droughts are rare. However, in a few years it will happen once. It would make us suffer and we would perform the istisqa' prayer, a special prayer ritual to ask for rain. That's our culture. We went out into the open field in everyday clothes, not fancy clothes.

We take livestock, children, women, men, all of them will go to the open field, "istisqa prayer". It was the rule, we would perform the ritual under the hot sun that burned our skin. We will cry there. That we really need the rain that falls from the sky.

If it didn't rain while performing the ritual, then we would repeat it for days, days, weeks. It must rain, or we die. we are despicable. Therefore, this ritual is the last solution for us to survive if we are hit by a long drought. In Aceh, we have experienced it several times, as far as I can remember.

Usually when we do the ritual it will rain. We don't know why that is. We will be very happy when it rains, and we will continue to be bathed in the rain until we finish praying. We would all look like overjoyed children when it rained. We, children and adults, along with the livestock we brought, were bathed in the rain in a dry open field. The dust turned to mud.

> The Rain

The falling water brings snow from the poles
melt in a tropical fantasy
in my childhood
rain is the time to play mud
see nets of water from the sky

At that time I thought
there may be a sea in the sky
that leaked and spilled onto the earth
but sprayed so smooth smooth
ahai, that's what I thought before

Black cloud
I'm afraid to see black clouds in the sky
However, I am more afraid to see dark circles
around the sun and moon.
Hello Phenomena
For me, that's terrible

Rain
I have been caught in the rain several times
I'm cold, wet and isolated,
There's nowhere to complain in the rain like that
Although usually the rain will stop
And there shouldn't be too much water in the sky,
But no one can be sure
that the rain will stop soon

The frog in the swamp is very happy when it rains
His voice will fill the ears of the universe
The trees rejoice

Rain brings fertility, life, sustenance
Sometimes it rains too
Water spilled from the sky
From the love of the Almighty.

Thank you

January 23, 2023

Kind Regards
Thayeb Loh Angen

Captions for all photos: Rain in our garden, Paloh Dayah, Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Sumatra, January 14, 2023. Photo by Jamaluddin. With Nikon D7000 Camera, Nikon AF Nikkor Lens 70-300 mm, Nikon 18-55 nn Lens.