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Art
November 2009 
Rain
Posted on Feb 15th, 2009
by 
Doug
Doug
William Carlos Williams 1930
As the rain falls
so does
your love
bathe every
open
object of the world--
In houses
the priceless dry
rooms
of illicit love
where we live
hear the wash of the
rain--
There
paintings
and fine
metalware
woven stuffs--
all the whorishness
of our
delight
sees
from its window
the spring wash
of your love
the falling
rain--
The trees
are become
beasts fresh-risen
from the sea--
water
trickles
from the crevices of
their hides--
So my life is spent
to keep out love
with which
she rains upon
the world
of spring
drips
so spreads
the words
far apart to let in
her love
And running in between
the drops
the rain
is a kind physician
the rain
of her thoughts over
the ocean
every
where
walking with
invisible swift feet
over
the helpless
waves--
Unworldly love
that has no hope
of the world
and that
cannot change the world
to its delight--
The rain
falls upon the earth
and grass and flowers
come
perfectly
into form from its
liquid
clearness
But love is
unworldly
and nothing
comes of it but love
following
and falling endlessly
from
her thoughts
Access: Public
Sigh…. good one, as usual… I loved the spaces.
This is so beautiful
and so right for my weather.
It has been raining here,
softly
gently
for a week now
and to me
it feels
like a patient Lovers
graceful tears.
Thanks for Sharing
Ah yes Pearly, me too. I found this one on Saturday while thumbing through an anthology of American poetry. I was looking for one I read years ago entitled “The Revelation” a poem like that moment between dreaming and wakefulness, like somehow in that space the gap is closed between those two worlds and what we dream is possible if only for a few seconds, someone I have seen but hardly know touches my hand and I look in her eyes for that quiet look.
Well I couldn’t find it again, but I did find the rain.
Hi Shanti,
Yes many miles of ocean and a whole inversion of season between us and yet the rain falls here as well, has been for days on end. This morning I stood on the bluffs above the ocean, dark clouds and the ocean such a clear green, and I imagined I was looking into someone’s eyes and while I see the impossibility of holding the rain, I suspect if I imagined myself the sun, I could with the slightest gesture, slip my warm fingers around her waist.
I love the idea of the ocean falling down upon us in little droplets causing us to become beasts freshly risen along with the trees!
Hi Jeannie! Yeah me too! Well the whole poem blew me away but this part
“So my life is spent
to keep out love
with which
she rains upon
the world ”
Could have been something I wrote. And my fear was that I would cease to exist if I let in that rain and the truth is I will,
one drop at a time.
Letting go one drop at a time . . . . . evaporating and expanding, disolving, evolving . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I was thinking about evolution versus revolution today and realizing my preference for the former as it seems gentler. I read a book called the House of Rain about the Anasazi of the American southwest and how they vanished and now I’m reading a book entitled Wind and the connection is that the wind changed in the American southwest at the end of the 12 century, just a subtle shift in direction which resulted in an evolutionary change that completely devastated people’s lives. It makes me realize I can’t really perceive evolutionary changes until they appear as revolutionary. Too many little changes pile up undetected and then there is a huge shift and live is not the same anymore.
It made me aware that sometimes we aren’t afforded the luxury of a gentle rain, sometimes it feels like a hurricane.
Nature isn’t always gentle as we would like, it seems the Universe is willing to open up to us on it’s own terms. I think if we accept Nature’s authority, she will be gentle in the full term. It is my perception anyway. Your poetry is inspiring, takes my mind into the depths, and brings me back up for air.
From one Tsunami surfer to another I agree Jeannie. Hey it might look rough or pathetic, but from the inside when you just relax and trust, fall into the grace as easy as slipping and falling into a mud puddle. You just let it happen and somehow it feels like beauty.
Well yeah, not everyone wants to fall in mud but keep in mind, even Mr Bubbles admitted that it’s almost as much fun getting clean as it was getting dirty.
And thank you!
I watched this cute and simple example of revolution, it made me realize I am placing too much emphasis on evolution. Revolution can be an immediate shift. It’s almost too simple to grasp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D85yrIgA4Nk&feature=player_embedded
Cute! Yeah I’m getting it too! Evolution is the change we wait for, but revolution is the change we create through intent. We believe the dog chases the cat and the cat stalks the rat and so we solidify that into the real by adding our intent to the intent of others. Meanwhile we wait for the evolutionary changes that lead to the lion lying down with the lamb. But now there has been a shift and now we are called to co-create the revolution. We can make our dreams real!
The art is to dream well.