Kory had to memorize this poem last week as part of a chapter on poetry he’s working through in Language Arts. I bet some of you are already familiar with it, but I couldn’t believe how much I could relate to it presently. I knew I had heard the phrase “Into each life some rain must fall;” just didn’t know it was Longfellow! (Homeschooling is educating me for the first time in many ways!) So many of you all have written to me and relayed your own times of “rain” and offered your prayers and it had meant so much. It is really encouraging to find out that you are not alone in your experience and that feeling “down” at times is perfectly normal. Just read the Psalms, and you might come to the conclusion that depression was more normal than abundant joy for much of the time. The days are more sunny now (literally and metaphorically!) and the Lord continues to bring healing, but this is a fallen world to be sure…
The Rainy Day
The day is cold and dark and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering 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 moldering Past,
But 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.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I especially appreciate the comparison of the vine clinging to a crumbling wall to thoughts of the past. The past is crumbling, too. Can’t go back. Have to walk froward by faith.
Related