Friday, February 25, 2011

Rain, Rain

It's raining in the city. The word that comes to mind is unremitting. The wet gray heavens remind me of something the poet Ghalib wrote—"For a raindrop, joy is in entering the river." I think this is why I have been dreaming of the sea where I grew up. It has been too long since I immersed myself in its waters. I have been in the cold concrete North for too many years at a stretch. I am missing the river of my childhood, my blue ocean, my joy.


14 comments:

  1. The water has always been my solace, too, Angella, and even as close as I am to it, I don't get there enough. But the trees here, right in my yard, serve as decent substitute because they are so old, so huge. They remind me of my relative insignificance and at the same time, that we are all part of the whole, not matter how long or short our lives.
    I wish that for you, too.

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  2. angella,
    another water baby, water woman, here....
    being near salt water (i've tried pretending that rivers work the same magic for me, but it's no use...) is like being able to breathe, for me. i believe that the landscape that we are born into and spend our earliest days in matters tremendously, to our aesthetics and our sense of being in the world--or, to use your metaphor, having skin. salt water; scrub pine; dune grass; light and more light, reflected by water and sand. salt drying in white crystals on the back of my arm. too long w/o that, and i am dead inside. (and Ms Moon, i have the tree thing, as well; grew up in the woods, in a seaside town...so i feel what you're saying, too...)

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  3. Water provides a deep connection to peace adn levels those of us who grew up surrounded by water. I was so happy that it was raining this morning. I am especially glad that I don't have any pressure today to do anything so I can sit and watch the rain fall as I read a book in a comfortable chair. How great is that?!

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  4. Oh boy, typo - that's "and"

    I see you changed the pic. Great shot!

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  5. Ms. Moon, you are surrounded by beautiful, majestic, sheltering trees, and no wonder they give you solace. When I was in high school, I sang in a choir and the song that to this day plays in my head has words that go like this: "I think that I shall never see/ a poem as lovely as a tree/a tree that looks at God all day, and lifts its leafy arms to pray." You are right. There is something so healing about trees. love to you, dear Mary.

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  6. dear susan t, my fellow water woman, let us find our way to the salty blue sea very soon. Let's promise each other. In the meantime, we will feast our senses on bountiful trees, in pictures if we must, since it is still winter where you are and where i am. and we will visit here. that is such comfort, too.

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  7. Gary, I can think of nothing more spiritually nourishing on a day like this than to sit in a chair with a book and watch the rain fall. And yes, the sound of rain is a worthy substitute when the ocean can't immediately be had! i am glad you had such a day, dear friend. hugs.

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  8. Sending prayers and love out into the stormy, deep-blue Pacific for you tonight.

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  9. I, too, love the soothing, mesmerizing sound of the rain.
    The photograph is stunning!!
    I send you love ~

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  10. Stunning photo! Here in the Pacific Northwest, it's the rain that I love, it feels like a blessing falling from the sky. When I told my husband that I could never live away from water, he didn't get it (he claims Texas as his home). (And I love him anyway!)

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  11. Debra W, thank you thank you, dear one.

    Gabriele, i'm sending love like the soothing patter of raindrops your way.

    T. Clear, so great to see you here. I am loving your blog! Our bodies are more than seventy percent water, so no wonder we crave its blessings. Possibly Texans differ in this regard!

    deb, yes. love.

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  12. Angela, I have to tell you that I keep coming back to look at this photo. It's really quite wonderful!

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  13. I woke this morning thinking how long I'd been absent from favorite places...your blog and several others and, as you remind me, the water. Happiest times as a young child with grandparents by the sea, five adult years lived right on the beach, then having to learn again falling asleep without the sound of a foghorn when we moved back inland. My comfort, living in this apartment, is the sun and the sky which we have in quantity, after 20 years spent in places with too few of either. Your photo is, indeed, wonderful.

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