Explanation on Kahlil Gibran’s “Song of the Rain”

“Song of the Rain” is a beautiful poem appealing to the sensitive hearts touched by the heavenly beauty of rains. The poet Kahlil Gibran has composed this poem as a eulogy in praise of rain and its affection for earth. The poem is written in the first person, and rain itself is the speaker. Rain has held a mirror to its identity and activity in the poem.

Rains look like ‘silver threads’ while falling on earth. It is a divine gift from the gods to nature. Nature accepts this gift as a blessing to nourish and nurture her ‘fields and valleys’. Rains are as beautiful as pearls to the eyes of beauty worshippers. Rain drops shine with the white gleams of the pearls in the ‘crown of Ishtar’, goddess of fertility, love, war and sex in the Babylonian Pantheon.

Rains come down with showers of pleasure and joy for everyone and everything. It makes the hills laugh, the flowers rejoice, and all things feel elated. Rain is a wand of magic with a transforming touch. Rain, a messenger of mercy in the poet’s speak, connects the field with the cloud high in the sky. It fills in the void between the sky and the earth. Raindrops quench the thirst of the earth and cure the blisters caused by the heat of simmering summer. This heavenly blessing works as a panacea to many problems.

The poet Kahlil Gibran has elucidated the majesty of rains through a picturesque description and in a poetic way. The deafening voice of thunder announces the arrival of rains on earth, just like a king’s arrival is heralded by the beating of drums. The rainbow sprinkling a handful of seven different colors across the blue surface of the sky after the clouds disappear declares the departure of rains from earth.

Rains spring up from the deep of seas and oceans. It soars great heights with the breeze and then, comes back to its source. Thus rains run round in a cyclic process. Out of its caring attitude towards earth, this natural phenomenon comes down to nourish, refresh and rejuvenate flowers and trees in a million ways. The verity is that not everyone can percept the soothing feel, affectionate nature and caring attitude of the rain. The song of the rain does not warm every heart. Only the sensitive hearts can be touched to the bottomless pit by Kahlil Gibran’s “Song of the Rain”.