Musical Roofs

I love metal roofs. They have regained popularity in recent years and well they should. It goes without saying that they are a better choice for the environment. But really, for me, it’s the sound of rain falling on a metal roof that I love. When I built our back porch years ago I put on a roof of steel.

Some of my earliest memories are of staying at my grandparents home in a little valley of the Bluegrass. The roof of the old place where they lived at the time was metal. On cold, rainy autumn and winter nights the steady percussive roll of rain on the roof would match the dancing of the wall shadows that the copper colored flames in the old stove produced. In the summer a soft rain heard through the open window would drum the Kentucky dust from the roof, while all through the night the Whippoorwill would sing her lonesome song. It was the music of peace. A symphony of comfort.

With the covers on my neck and my head sunk deep in the feather pillow. I’d hear the call “whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill”. And I would involuntarily smile and match the cadence with the sleepy whisper “ let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

Nov. 4, 2011