It’s raining in Oklahoma. This is good. We had the hottest July of any state, any time, in  US history. August didn’t look a lot better, at least until last night. Wildfires have swept much of the state, causing evacuations of entire Oklahoma towns. So I’m grateful for the rain. Especially after driving through Pawnee County after it burned…

All along the highway, it’s the scorched earth of ‘after.’ Only matchstick trees still stand — all undergrowth is burned away. In some places, only a concrete pad is left to show a house was there just days before. Now there isn’t even rubble.

But this evening, thunder is rumbling outside the house, and  temperatures have dropped into the low 80s. The other day it was over 100˚ at this same time . If you’re keeping Ramadan in Oklahoma this year, it’s even harder, I’m certain, than usual.

So here’s a poem for this Ramadan season, Mahmoud Darwish’s In Jerusalem — a poem I love by an author who humbles me. Call it an offering in appreciation of the hard work that goes in to keeping faith :). A prayer, of sorts, that we cause no more scorched earth between ourselves. That rain will somehow cool our tempers, and help us grow. because love/ and peace are holy…