Rain.

…. Last weekend, driving to the other side of Vermont, I pulled over and read the Gazetteer to navigate through back roads. My daughter leaned forward from the backseat and asked, in complete seriousness, Are you actually reading a map?

Indeed, I was — and capably, I might add.

This morning, in the garden, I lifted my face to the mist-swaddled sky and wondered, Are you actually raining?

Indeed. Yes.

I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face…

— Don Paterson, “Rain”