Somewhere in your mind, maybe,
there was a time like this,
and in a strange way
you can’t remember
if it was just a day or a decade ago.

But you know it was hot like this,
had to be July like now,
or maybe August,
and the heat kept coming in waves,
day after day after day.

But then, one day,
after the thunder and rain,
it came:
a gentle breeze blowing from the north.

The air was suddenly cool and clean
and it seemed like each hour
of that calm cooling
took away another layer
of the tired and ache
that had been dogging you.

And it seems likely as not,
even if you have sort of forgotten
and can’t be completely sure,
you even felt pure on the inside.

You knew that something good and holy
had touched you
and you thought, maybe,
in a place you don’t talk about much:
God himself had kissed your face
and whispered to you,
“This is grace.”

H. Arnett
7/15/14