Stormy Weather

You undertone of rivers, roar of pouring cataracts;
You sounds from distant guns, with galloping cavalry!
Echoes of camps, with all the different bugle-calls!
Trooping tumultuous, filling the midnight late, bending me powerless
Entering my lonesome slumber-chamber—Why have you seiz’d me?
-Walt Whitman

After a long day of grueling work, a man missed his bus to get back home.

Of course this being quite late, this was the last bus in service for the night.

Reluctantly, the man started his trek back home.

His house was about 5 miles away from the bus stop; not too terribly far (certainly a little more than a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood…)

...but there are certainly easier ways to make the distance.

Walking is not one of them, but it had to be done; no sense in getting mad over things you can not control.

He certainly had to start immediately, since under the cover of darkness, he could see the silent light flashes indicative of far off thunderstorm.

However the storm was not too far off; just over a mile into his trek the floodgates opened up.

No umbrella, no jacket,

...just 4 more miles to go.

It came down hard and fast at the beginning, but it began to let up after a while which uplifted his spirits, but the rain eventually came back once again in full force.

Come forward, O my Soul, and let the rest retire;
Listen—lose not—it is toward thee they tend;    
Parting the midnight, entering my slumber-chamber,
For thee they sing and dance, O Soul.

He had too much.

He took shelter under an awning.

But it seemed like hours waiting until the rain would stop; not even knowing if it would.

So it was onwards.

The closer he got home, interestingly enough, the more “comfortable” he felt.

His body started warm up against the cold rain.

Everything was so rain drenched at least nothing could get any wetter.

Finally he made the full trip; he was in his neighborhood.

The straying thence, the separation long, but now the wandering done,
The journey done, the Journeyman come home,
And Man and Art, with Nature fused again.

Before he went inside, he decided to take a few more moments outside.

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