I wait until it stopped raining to leave the house. I’m not a big fan of walking in the rain, and my four legged walking partner, Rufus, is not a fan either.

When I got to the Heath, I was the first car in the parking lot. I cherished that moment of stillness and quietness of not having lots of other humans around. It felt like I had the Heath all to myself.

As I started walking, I started noticing that it was only raining under the trees. Every time I walked under a group of trees, it felt like it was raining again. As I stepped out into the open field there was no water coming down from above. The words ‘it’s only raining under the trees’ ran in my head, they made me smile and they felt like the start of something. A poem.

I started coming up with a few other lines in my head and then I decided to stop for a minute and voice record some of the lines I had already thought in my head.

Here is the recording.

I like that I sound breathless from the walking, I like that it was recorded so close to the moment of the idea coming into my mind, I like how I say it slowly and how I allow for some of the other words to come in the moment, I like that it was recorded right in the middle of nature.

It is the day after, I am not in that moment any more, but I wanted to still write the poem. Here it is, with a few changes:

‘It’s Still Raining Under the Trees

The clouds have parted, the sky is turning blue
And it’s still raining under the trees

The sun has come out, from behind the dark clouds
And it’s still raining under the trees

There is a stillness in the air
And it’s still raining under the trees

The wind comes and gently blows the branches and leaves
And it makes it rain even more, under the trees

It’s not raining anywhere else, but under the trees

Since when, it only rains under the trees?’