Poet Doug Holder writes: “You know, I have taught Ray Bradbury’s short story There will come soft rains for years now at Endicott College. The story is about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The date for the piece is set on Aug. 4, 2026. And now with wars around the world … I wrote this small poem that was inspired by Bradbury.”

There will come soft rains

After the blinding flash
the damning
hellfire heat–
the sun blocked
by a bombastic cloud,
a mournful
drape of soot
our nuclear winter
of discontent
there will come
a davening
sea of soft rain
a benediction
for our infinite
pain.

— Doug Holder