The First Drizzle

It's dark this morning.
We have the curtains drawn
And it's harder to wake up
Difficult to tell it's time to go.

Outside it is less hot than usual
As humid, but a cool breeze blows:
Not a speck of blue sky can I see
Amid all the gray.

It has started drizzling.
Oh, will it rain hard?
Is the monsoon arrived?
Should I go back and change
Out of my thin cotton clothes
Worn for the heat and not for the wet
That will make them cling to my skin and become sheer;
The office will see my underwear.

I don't have an umbrella -
Not even a dupatta;
Is it too late to go back?
My thin cheap sandals
Will slip in puddles.
My paper lunch bag
Will dissolve.

But there is time enough to worry
Of getting drenched and muddied
Of being stuck in traffic
Of being stranded, alone, crowded.

And there is time to be
Drenched and muddied
Stuck in traffic
Stranded, alone, crowded.

But today it's just the first light drizzle
After a long, sweltering summer
That I have longed to see the end of.
I'll look out of the window
Feel the breeze on my face.
And if it rains today
I'll go for a walk.