It’s raining. They say that in my country it doesn’t know how to rain. Yet, I’ve always liked the rain. It seems like the same rain as ever. But no, it’s not. Time has been changing for quite some time now. Like so many other things that have changed without warning. They may look like the same things as always, but no, they are not.
Perhaps it’s because everything changes without notice, so suddenly, as change always is. One day you go to sleep, and the next day you wake up and realise everything has shifted. You look around and think, “Since when?” And then it dawns on you—there is no “Since when”, only a “From now”.
The rain falls intensely, as it has never fallen before. You look at the sky and recognise the change, and that change is the nature of things. That nature is the only certainty over time. Change is movement. Change is life. Change is renewal. Change is freedom. Change is you. The change is me, and it surrounds me.
Maybe it’s because people, things, and situations change without warning. Even the rain changes without warning. And perhaps that’s why I like the rain so much—because I have always liked the rain. Dancing in it. Running in it. Playing in it. Feeling it. Under the rain, I am truly myself.
Maybe it’s because rain embodies the freedom of change, and when it touches me deeply, it is then that I feel change, life, and freedom. I think of Martí i Pol’s verses, as I have so many times before, reciting them from memory:

“Look into my eyes, that no darkness may overcome.

I come from a summer with too much rain, but I bring fire to the roots of my nails

[…]
 Look into my eyes; you can see the return.”