The Voice Of The Rain - Poem by Walt Whitman
I came across this poem today and thought it was beautiful. I particularly like the last line of the poem. I have included a short translation. Enjoy
And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated: I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain, Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same, I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe, And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it; (For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering, Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)
Hearing this, the poet compares it to a song, which rises from its birthplace (the heart) roams around for a bit, and, whether heard and enjoyed or not, returns back to the heart and settles there when he stops singing, remaining a happy memory.
And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated: I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain, Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same, I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe, And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it; (For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering, Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)
Hearing this, the poet compares it to a song, which rises from its birthplace (the heart) roams around for a bit, and, whether heard and enjoyed or not, returns back to the heart and settles there when he stops singing, remaining a happy memory.
In this poem, the poet asks the rain
shower who it is, and the shower replies that it's the poem of the earth.....it
rises from the land and seas in the form of untouchable mist, in a form that's
physically very different from its true self but otherwise just the same, to
the sky. from there, it goes back down, and quenches the thirst of everything,
right down to small dust particles. It also gives life to seeds and helps them grow
into thriving plants. Thus, it gives back what it takes, life, to the earth,
and also makes it pure and beautiful.
