Tag Archives: Rain

“Spring Rise” by Fan Chengda [w/ Audio]

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In Spring, the waters rise --
 Shore grass sways with breezes,
 And geese drift right beside;
 Boats glide as the stream pleases.
   Yon pagoda looks far,
      but feels quite close.

Streamside, one feels a chill.
 Fields have yet to be plowed --
 Not while the torrents spill.
 Mulberry limbs are bowed.
   Soon we'll have a taste,
      and harvest cocoons.

NOTE: The title of this poem is 蝶 戀 花. Xu Yuanchong uses the quite literal “Butterflies in Love with Flowers” as his translated title. I chose differently because a wet Spring is the throughline of the poem and, well, there are no explicit butterflies (or flowers) in the poem [only their potential.] Of course, maybe that’s exactly why the original is a great title.

Rainy Autumn [Haiku]

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the leaves are gone,
 but the green of moss remains:
  rainy autumn days.

“Jade Gate Pass” by Wang Wei [w/ Audio]

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Dawn rain has washed the city of its dust;
  The refreshed hotel willows tremble in a gust.
 My friendly advice, you dry up another glass,
  You have no acquaintance beyond The Jade Gate Pass.

DAILY PHOTO: Monsoon Mussoorie

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Armada [Haiku]

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dark gray clouds
 glide over like a
  daunting armada.

The Gray [Haiku]

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on a hilltop,
 neighboring hill in clouds:
  its dwellers in gray.

“The Rainy Day” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
 It rains, and the wind is never weary;
 The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
 But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
   And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
 It rains, and the wind is never weary;
 My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
 But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
   And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
 Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
 Thy fate is the common fate of all,
 Into each life some rain must fall,
   Some days must be dark and dreary.

Green Hills [Haiku]

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the hills are greening,
 after days of endless rain;
  the landscape, edgeless.

Grazers [Senryū]

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the herd grazes
 as Spring rains start to fall;
  none looks up.

Dystopian Desolation [Lyric Poem]

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A road lined with burnt out junkers,
   And garbage fires 'round which hunker
 Cold souls sitting in drizzling rain --
   That rain, that rain, their eternal bane.

Blue skies are a distant memory --
   Except for in every reverie
 That denies claustrophobic skies
   The main villain role - e'er reprised.

Where's our long-lost hero, the sun?
   Have stout clouds got him on the run?
 Or maybe our hero 's bleeding out;
    Its feeble showing leaves room for doubt.