by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)
Rain
Language: English
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.
Text Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "Rain" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ty Kroll , "Rain", 2004. [SSSAAATTBB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not verified ]
- by George Tsontakis (b. 1951), "Rain", first performed 2007, from Midnight Rain [ sung text not verified ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-11-05
Line count: 18
Word count: 139