The Rain is Free
Listen up – parched yellowed grass!
It’s not just a few drops hitting the leaves
on the trees so they don’t even reach you.
It’s a whole morning downpour, would you believe
– and what’s more, the rain is free
For three months pale clouds have slid overhead
without dripping a mite on our fields in the East
while crop yields fell and forecasts teased
about showers that simply sailed by on the breeze
without falling – but then, the rain is free
Anglian imposed a hosepipe ban
as leaves began to crisp in the heat
They gave us advice about saving water
while failing to deal with their own chronic leaks
– but of course, the rain is free
Summer leaves began to brown like autumn.
The sun beat down, merciless, week after week.
To keep them alive, we poured our grey water
on plants, but some died – chlorinated, you see
– rain’s much better for plants – and free
On and off, rain’s fallen for millions of years.
It’s given us lakes and rivers and seas,
vapour mists into clouds that are meant to drop rain
that nourishes animals, birds and trees
and us – and what’s more, it’s free
Then companies were set up to charge us for it
They said – we can’t supply it for free
There’s infrastructure, essential repairs,
and of course, investors who’ll want to receive
their dividend – rain’s expensive, you see
But they weren’t nearly clever enough
to deserve our trust – naively,
we thought they’d build reservoirs,lay new pipes,
– private sector efficiency – fix the leaks
because after all, the rain was still free
Instead, they ramped up our bills and paid
more in dividends than they spent on leaks
built not one reservoir in twenty-seven years
as if climate change was dreamt up by freaks
as if rain would always fall, and be free
for them to exploit and line their pockets
paying eye-watering bonuses to CEOs
who poured raw piss and shit into our rivers
while threatening fines if we used our hoses
while the skies stayed blue and free of rain
Enough! – the time has come for change.
Drops of anger are turning into a stream
that’s becoming a river, and then a flood
of demands to make these confidence tricksters
come clean. The rain again will be free!
No more should water be used for profit
– essential for life, like the air we breathe,
we must store it carefully, gratefully, save it
for planet and people, communally.
The rain again will be free!