Leaky Gutter

The drizzle outside was amplified

By a leaky gutter nearby.

Escaping drops drummed on the tops

Of iron roofs that lie

Just beyond my open window

As I stayed in bed, awake

But drifting in and out of dreams

That drew me, through a fool’s mistake,

Forgetting they were less than real.

But consciousness was soon restored

By the truth that drummed on rusted steel

Where the leaky gutter’s water poured,

Reminding me the rain was real.

 

I was in northern Uganda last week, to help support a new project we are starting there. Before coming back to Kenya, I spent a night in Kampala (Uganda's capital city), waiting for my COVID test before I could fly. When I woke up in the morning, it was drizzling, and the water leaking from the gutter just above my window, falling on a corrugated iron sheet just below, made the rain seemed much louder and harder than it actually was. So, this poem is just a slice of life during my travels.