Death & Dying
Rain
From Poems (1917, as 'Edward Eastaway')
Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain
On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me
Remembering again that I shall die
And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks
For washing me cleaner than I have been
Since I was born into this solitude.
Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:
But here I pray that none whom once I loved
Is dying to-night or lying still awake
Solitary, listening to the rain,
Either in pain or thus in sympathy
Helpless among the living and the dead,
Like a cold water among broken reeds,
Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,
Like me who have no love which this wild rain
Has not dissolved except the love of death,
If love it be towards what is perfect and
Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.
Codex Note
Midnight rain falls on a bleak hut, and the speaker prays that no one he loves is lying awake, since the rain has dissolved every love he had except 'the love of death'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Thomas, Edward. “Rain.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/thomas_e/17/.
Chicago
Thomas, Edward. “Rain.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/thomas_e/17/.
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