My View From the House by the Sea by Donna Marie Barr

Author:Donna Marie Barr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Donna Marie Barr
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Rain, Clouds, Ocean

I began to discern the subtleties of the rain, the clouds, and the sea in ways that I never had. At the fale i tai my view spanned from ‘Ili‘ili Point to the right, with Nuʻusafeʻe Island directly ahead, and the last houses of Poutasi on my left, where the river flowed into the sea. With Meleisea’s boat bobbing in the foreground, I watched stunning sunsets unfold, metamorphose, and mesmerize. Sometimes it was almost too much to take in. I saw the water’s surface change from glassy smooth, to choppy, to heaving swells. And how thrilling to hear a hammering downpour coming toward me through the rainforest!

Ah, the rain . . . it was misty, pounding, soothing, soaking, refreshing, and rhythmic, a manifestation of invisible convections and currents, a presence I looked for everyday in the sky. I often didn’t want to deal with it, but I never hated it. It was just there.

Rain is a constant in the tropics. There’s a wet season, when it rains more, and a dry season, when it rains less, but it always rains. It was warm, almost inviting, at least when it wasn’t coming down in painful pelts. Little kids splashed about naked, and it was especially fun for them to run in and out of the small waterfall of a gushing downspout.

The rains filled the spring that provided water for the village, the cool brackish pool where the kids loved to play, and the lake whose dam generated electricity for the island. I was grateful for the watercress growing in the fresh streams and for taro, breadfruit, and coconut that depended on the rain to survive. I understood why early Polynesians chanted tributes of gratitude and supplication to their deities.

Studying the clouds, I learned how to distinguish an approaching shower from a squall or a downpour. Ah, the clouds . . .

Windswept charcoal Rorschach blot unfolds on sky and sea

Downy bellies of avian giants reflect the golden light

Cumulus vessels float above and below

Feathery icy veils halo the sunlit island

Molten backlit ancient guardians linger on the horizon

Pearlescent overturned bowl of the sky glows warm

Swordfish and shark trail virga

Carmen swooshes mirror the water

Plowed altocumulus rows blot out the sun

Flames rise above silhouetted palms.

With no modesty at all, I’ll say that I took stunning photos of sunset after sunset over ʻIliʻili Point from the fale i tai. It wasn’t my ability per se, but the magnificent combination of scenery, sun, and sea that made it happen. I looked forward to seeing what shapes and hues would appear each evening. Whether riotous color, muted pastel, or darkest gray with slivers of silvery backlight, it was always worth seeing. Anticipating, setting up, forming, changing, lingering, blending, fading—we see what we want to in the heavens, in the glints of light on the waves, and in the shapes of the tumbling clouds.

As I sit at the fale i tai, it’s pouring rain. As much as I adore this place in the brilliant sun of noon, or in the evening glow of sunset, I also love it in the rain.

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