affusion

rejecting responsibility
i step out
into a winter’s evening rain
to cleanse away
my morning sins-
it exposes me-
runs off my several skins
and whets my soul
i stand beneath the street lamps’
confessional yellow eye
my arms outstretched
a sodden scarecrow
against the silent suburban street –
i raise my face
and kiss the rain
as it kisses me –
exhale my constant prayer
begin to return, contrite
alone –
grateful for another day

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Joseph A Farina is a retired lawyer in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. An award-winning, push cart-nominated poet. He won the first prize in PREMIO CITTA’ DI ARONA 2025. His works appear in many poetry magazines, notably Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, The Windsor Review, and in the anthologies, Sweet Lemons: Writings with a Sicilian Accent, Canadian Italians at Table, Witness, and Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for the 21st Century. He has published two books of poetry, The Cancer Chronicles and The Ghosts of Water Street, and an e-book, Sunsets in Black and White. His latest book is The Beach, the Street, and Everything in Between.