by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Like Rain it sounded till it curved
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE GER
Like Rain it sounded till it curved
And then I knew 'twas Wind —
It walked as wet as any Wave
But swept as dry as Sand —
When it had pushed itself away
To some remotest Plain
A coming as of Hosts was heard
That was indeed the Rain — 
It filled the Wells, it pleased the Pools
It warbled in the Road —
It pulled the spigot from the Hills
And let the Floods abroad —
It loosened acres, lifted seas
The sites of Centres stirred
Then like Elijah rode away
Upon a Wheel of Cloud —

Note: The second line is used by Tōru Takemitsu for the title of a piece for flute, viola and harp (1992).


Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Comme la Pluie ça bruissait jusqu'à ce que ça tourne", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-03-17
Line count: 16
Word count: 99