Like Rain it sounded till it curved
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
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. Emily Dickinson
Over these past days many people here in St. Louis experienced life changing tornadoes that came out of nowhere with speed and destruction, changing everything in their path. Dickinson’s poem suggests that a storm can feel world-altering. The poet imagines wind and rain’s destruction sounding like an advancing army – or hosts. The storm is imagined as bringing about good change such as the wells and pools being filled. However this wind and rain storm altered the landscape and raised the seas and the centres where displaced. Dickinson poem concludes with the storm suddenly vanishing in a chariot of clouds as did the Old Testament prophet Elijah! This poem is about change. Pause and ponder these images, and consider the inner storms we experience of soul and mind which move things around and displace our long held centres creating a new present, full of possibility. Let us welcome good change!
Prayer:
Holy God,
creator of rain and storm,
sunshine and calm,
wind and wave, we give thanks
for landscapes and oceans and
all that speaks of life and possibility.
As the poet writes about storms, so we pray
asking that the storms that rage between, and
within nations, as to what is truth, right, and moral,
may give way to a calm of hope and holiness.
We who waste so much, might we be transformed
in attitude and behaviour so that we choose to share rather
than hoard. Hear our quiet prayer from deep
within us that it may stir
a reaction to the noise of self-importance and ego
which clamours all around us.
Holy God, may we choose to live more simply
so others
may simply live. Amen.
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 
I have mistaken wind for rain, and rain for wind. Anyone who has experienced a Nor’easter knows how this can happen. Trees flexible in the wind will bend toward the ground with the sound of a wind that doesn’t even pause to take a breath. The leaves brushing pavement can sound like rain. Then the rains come and I look out the window to see if the lawn chairs have traveled into a neighbor’s yard only to discover that the wind has died down, but it is pouring. Maybe the poem is about change, or maybe it’s about things staying the same. Either way I enjoy it.
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