Rain falls, siren wails
and stops. The rain doesn’t stop.
No dawn. Only grey.
Taking a too-long
hot shower. Breathing the steam.
Trying to get clean.
Washing and washing
hands. Out, out damned spot! Out! Out!
But there is no out.
Waiting, not waiting,
for a siren, for silence,
for the rain to stop.
Roy Herndon Smith
dust 