1.
Breath held strictly back,
The rain is no longer soft.
She breaks and breathes light,
From highest heaven to earth
With a day brought forth in night.
2.
No man feels mortal
In rain-washed skin like armor.
Thunder is his worth
And storms brought forth his drum,
For a season's breathless mirth.
3.
Blown over like sand
The rain soothes soft; inhales.
She that life draws from
Is stored, is stayed, and bestowed
Till the mortal night succumbs.
postscript
Three tankas that flow into each other. I can't resist a small rhyme scheme, even though strictly speaking the tanka doesn't require one. Of a stormy night.