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WHY DO RAINDROPS TAKE DIFFERENT SHAPES?

Watch the raindrops fall
  On different kinds of leaves,
Plants tiny or tall --
    Why do bright wonder-droplets
  On rhododendron leaves just ooze,
     Making the leaves seem to choose
       To be "clean", but not "dripped on"?
(The surface is slick,
  And somehow the raindrops
Can't find a way to stick!)
    But then, rainwater slipping
  Onto locust-tree leaves makes jewels,
     Bolder, clearer than crewels
       Embroidered to entertain someone!
(The leaves are all a'cover
  With tiny "hairs" which make
The raindrops stand up and hover.)
    Nasturtiums' broad flat green
         Shine with beadlets of silvery sheen,
            Each roundy leaf holds cup of water's dawn.
(In center funnel, a depression,
    Or midst veins or "dammed up valleys"
Rain finds its own expression!)

But given the science of "explaining"
  The "why's" of raindrops -- who's complaining?
      Raindrops are such beautiful jewels,
        As well as being "learning tools"!
(c) 1981 by Marilee Miller     revised (c) 2006 by Marilee Miller

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