This week, several friends email me that they heard my Rain poem on CBC radio Metro Morning.(March 22, 6:20am)
It was an early program, so I was surprised and glad that they had listened to it. During the radio interview, the host Karen asked me to read one poem and tell her what inspired me to write this poem and why it was so special to me.
So for friends who missed the program, here is our conversation.
The Rain poem seems very simple. But it has a good philosophy inside. It can be easily understood and connected to our daily life. That is why I chose it to be the first poem for my new book “Wings toward Sunlight”. It also matches the opening quote from Emily Dickinson “the soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”
I wrote it in 2007 when we were camping. It rained a lot. We were not happy and missed home.
One early morning, when rain stopped, I took a walk and felt the freshness and quietness after rain.
I felt peaceful. Then the poem came to me naturally. So I learnt when our attitude changed, we could appreciate the world better.
Each time when I read this poem, I will think of myself like the rain to accept and enjoy the life cycle, longing for home with a delightful mood. At the end of the poem, I wrote “Let go” to add a surprise turn because I thought sometimes we thought letting go was not easy, but just look at our nature, these letting goes became such an amazing experience.
Here is the Rain Poem…
Rain
You don’t pray for rain in mountains.
It comes and goes as if to home—
sometimes wandering in clouds,
other times running into rising streams.
The soil is forever soft.
Leaves unfold to hold each drop.
At the end of each cycle,
you always hear it singing
all the way home—
kissing leaves,
tapping trees.
Some drops stay longer on tall branches.
All of a sudden, a wind blows;
they let go—
a light shower
surprises you
sitting motionless under a phoenix tree.
In the interview, Karen asked how I started to write poems as I was IT professional. I told her that in 2004, after I read the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. It awakened the Child inside me. I became a girl having dreams like Alice in wonderland…
I also said, I read a story about Picasso.
Once Picasso said: “I used to draw like Raphael. But it has taken me a lifetime to draw like a child.”
Picasso was a competent artist when he drew like Raphael. He became a great artist only when he awakened the child in him and started drawing without any pre-determined technique.
I believe everyone has a child inside himself. Sadly, as we grow up, we loss him. I hope we all find the child inside us to allow ourselves explore the world with open mind.
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