The rain gently falls through the wetland, sounding like sand slowly sprinkling onto crumpled paper. Each droplet softly finds its way into the canopy of the forest. Each leaf rustles as the tiny drops splash onto it. Distant thunder warns. The rain grows heavier, falling like hail, ping-ping-pinging on a metal roof. Rain hits the leaves now like a barrage of bullets. High in the trees raindrops beat against each leaf, which are dangling precariously on their brittle stems. When the rain becomes more severe, the drip-drip changes to drib-drup. Smack-whack, the thinner branches seem to snap in half as the robust storm passes overhead. As the sky grows even darker, heavy rain and wind drive a shower of wet withered leaves fluttering to the soaked ground. The rain has assaulted the forest, battering the trees and undergrowth with its potshots, pow-pow.
Steadily, the sky turns lighter, drops stop falling, and the attack ceases. Slowly leaves shed the early afternoon shower. Gentle, and quiet trickles are merely echoes of the heavier rain moving off into the distance. The sound is almost as if someone shook a wet tarp. This storm moves on, threatening other vegetation in distant fields and woodlands.
~ Daniel Japhet III
