summary of the song of the rain
Khalil Gibran is a Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer. In his poem Song of the Rain he appreciates and personifies the rain. The poem is a first person narrative. The poet has used various figures of speech. The use of metaphors, similes, alliterations and hyperboles add to the beauty of the lyrical description of the water cycle. The poem begins with the physical description of the rain drops falling as silvery threads from the sky. The rain herself talks about her arrival. She adorns the nature and finally departs.
She is rain, she is life. She is the mother. She carries mercy between the lovers, the clouds and the fields. When she laughs the whole vegetation, the hills, the springs and rivers all join in to celebrate in her happiness. The whole nature adjust according to her mood for she is the “pearls” plucked from the crown of Ishtar. And who does it? The daughter of dawn herself brings her to embellish the gardens. She is the dew then, sprinkled to add to the morning glory of the flowers.
The rain quenches the thirst and cures the ailment of one. Her journey begins with the voice of thunder and ends with a vibrant rainbow. The rain has been addressed as the earthly life that lives and then dies. She is born in the heart of the sea and grows with the breeze that carries her to the tomb of the sky where she matures. The motherly characteristic of the rain is highlighted in the poem. When she sees a field in need, she pours out all her motherly love and embraces the flowers and the trees in the form of million little water droplets. Her touch is gentle and she touches with her tender and soft fingers.
The femininity of rain is enchanting. It appears that the poet is not describing a rain, a physical occurrence, but a mother. How a mother nourishes her children. Similarly the rain enriches the nature around. All hear the sound of rain falling gently, however, only the sensitive understands the motherly touch of the rain. She is the laughter of the fields and tears of the heaven. Like a mother fusses over her baby, the rain descends and embraces the flora and fauna.
In the climax of the poem, Khalil has woven lines in praises of the rain with love. A vivid narration of the rain fills the mind of the reader with a lively image. She is a sigh from the deep sea of affection and she is the laughter from the colourful field of the spirit. The rain is the life herself and she is the tears carrying memories of all the heavens. She is a heavenly message delivered to the earth by the hands of God.