hypnotic rain

"Maybe it was an illusion, i thought. I stood there a long time, gazing at the rainswept streets. Once again I was a twelve-year-old boy staring for hours at the rain. Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you gradually feel your body falling lose, shaking free the world's reality. Rain has the power to hypnotize.

"But this had been no mirage. When I went back into the bar, a glass and an ashtray remained where she had been. A couple of lightly crushed cigarette butts lay in the ashtray, a faint trace of lipstick on each. I sat down and closed my eyes. Echoes of music faded away, leaving me alone. In what gentle darkness, the rain continued to fall without a sound."

South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami