Contrast ©

After the rain,
the city is drab!
Steaming sidewalks echo the disgruntled footsteps
of wet, weary commuters.
Yesterday's headline,
inconsequential as the rest of man's debris,
sogs in the dirty gutter.

But,
not too far away,
a daisy lifts its freshly-washed face,
while sparrows fluster in a new puddle;
and the only untidiness is the vine,
as it trammels unchecked around dripping tree trunks.
The woods smell clean,
after the rain!