Expecting Rain
Once, they simply watched the sky,
the clouds’ dark gestation of rain.
There was little as to the how and why:
they sought to predict, not explain.
Others brooded over wind and sea;
they studied reports across the coast
and made a science of pressure and heat,
sent ambitious balloons afloat.
It somehow became a less simple thing
as they measured the dense data they amassed,
divining what the world could bring,
leaving farmers hopeful or aghast.
Now, they measure by laptop light,
and still, they struggle to get it right.
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