Lightening strikes. The clouds billow in, darkening the once bright sky. Thunder rumbles in the distance. The rain begins to fall. It's slow at first, just fat drops scattered over the landscape. They begin to fall faster, spreading thin as they fall, the ground begins to moisten. With one loud thunderclap, the heavens open. The downpour of water comes like a thief in the night. Unexpected, deadly, and leaving the earth below defenseless. Soon, puddles gather in the indents on the well worn roads and walkways. They begin to merge, join together and the rain seems to fall twice. Once as it hits the puddles and then again as the splash and ripples collide. The lightening is terrifying, and the illumination from the strikes makes the darkness look like dawn. The water rises and the rain continues to fall. It falls faster, as if seeing the flood rise fuels the clouds to pour down more. More vengeance, more anger, more pain. Eventually the rain begins to slow. It was inevitable that the precipitation in the air couldn't last forever. As the rain ceases, the clouds dissipate and the lightening and thunder roll on with the swiftly drifting clouds. The sky becomes clear once again.

But the ground? Oh, the ground.

It's destroyed. Wrecked, bruised, altered permanently--never to be returned to the state it was before the rain fell. The ground can try to fix itself but that is not in it's power. And the poor people can try to put the ground back in shape but their efforts are useless. There is no hope for the ground. It's ruined. And every time the rain falls, it will further be desecrated. It's a shame, it's a crime, but it's nature. It's life at it's finest. It's the name of the game.

Did you think I was talking about real rain and landscape? Oh no dear, this is what your presence did to my life.