The first time I saw

The girl with no umbrella,

She was standing on the curb.

I didn't stop walking,

For I was in a hurry,

But I took notice

Of the smile on her face

And the droplets in her hair.

My grey umbrella kept my dry

—For in my city,

It always rained—

And every day I walked by

Under its shelter,

Surrounded by hundreds of others,

Faceless,

Who bustled on their way

In their own umbrella bubbles.

But the girl with no umbrella

Stood apart from the fray.

She had a face

—And it was smiling—

Smiling in the rain.

I wondered if she was crazy,

Standing uncovered,

Wet and cold and strange—

And that was when she noticed me

—Noticed me—

And waved.

I didn't look back,

Nor smile, nor wave,

For there was nothing to smile about

Out here in the miserable rain.

I simply kept on walking,

On the way to start my day,

In the shelter of my umbrella,

With the sound of water droplets

Pounding in my brain.

The next day,

She was there again.

Today she sat

On the edge of the sidewalk,

Grime smeared on her flowery dress,

Dipping her toes in the gutter streams.

I couldn't fathom

Why she was playing

In the filthy water

That ran beneath the curb

Day after day.

I tried to avoid her gaze

—It was as if she were looking for me,

Though I was just one

In hundreds that passed this way—

But my eyes found hers,

By some will of the universe,

And she smiled at me again.

The sight of her over there,

With no umbrella,

The rain running down her face in rivulets,

Stirred something unfamiliar within me,

And I laughed

—Laughed, and continued on my way.

Every day, as weeks went by,

I saw her standing there,

With rain twirling in her fingers

And glistening atop her hair.

She smiled and waved and laughed at me,

All to no avail.

I had a place to get to—

I could not be stopped,

For this sidewalk was just

A pathway.

My umbrella was my shield

In the unrelenting downpour.

I began to pity

The girl with no umbrella,

For she could not protect herself.

One day when I passed her by,

I noticed with some shock—

The girl was dancing

In the rain.

Her feet were bare, her dress was soaked,

And yet

She didn't seem to care.

She leapt and twirled and laughed and sang

As if life were perfect and happy.

I couldn't help it:

I stopped and stared.

The traffic flowed around me,

As if I didn't exist.

Those beside me didn't seem

To notice

The girl with no umbrella

And her strange happiness.

And as I watched her, she met my gaze.

Her smile increased in size.

She raised her hand,

Pointed at me,

And beckoned me to her side.

I picked my way through the crowd,

To join her at the edge.

I told myself I simply wanted

A closer look

At this crazy girl.

But when I reached her

And her blinding smile,

She reached out for my hand.

I frowned in confusion,

But then I realized:

She wanted me

To share my umbrella!

I smiled and nodded

And held out my umbrella

To shelter her from the rain

That had already soaked her through.

Her hand wrapped around mine,

And I praised myself for helping her

—When she did something

I never thought would happen.

She took my umbrella.

She gently pried it from my hands,

And held it to the side—

Then while I watched, my mouth agape,

She closed my umbrella

And set it on the ground.

The rain immediately found me,

A new victim for its play.

It beat upon my shoulders

And filled my eyes.

I shrieked at its attack.

The girl with no umbrella

Laughed

And took my hands—

Hands that had been

Attempting to hold off the rain.

She smiled at me

Through a curtain of water

And I stopped resisting

As a new sensation took ahold

Of me.

The rain felt

Wonderful.

The girl with no umbrella

Twirled me around,

And I knew there was no going back.

I laughed with her

And splashed in the puddles

On the ground,

The rain creating

A beautiful rhythm

For our dance.

Eventually,

I had to go.

I knew it all too well.

I bid the girl with no umbrella goodbye,

And went back to the road.

Only when I was a long way gone,

I realized with a jolt—

I'd left my umbrella behind

And walked along

With the rain falling on my head

And a smile resting on my face.

I decided I didn't need it.

It never did stop raining.

The weather never changed.

Yet something inside me

Was different—

Something

Left behind

By the girl with no umbrella,

Who smiled in the rain.