hard rain
When the hard rain starts to fall
you’ll hear the roars of waves
which rage and drown the world and all
the people whom God saves
in earlier stories of the Flood,
with oaths that He won’t stain
the world again with human blood
drowned by remorseless rain.
The hard rain falling will remind
this God of oaths He swore;
since He no affidavit signed,
such oaths He will ignore.
There are no courts where He may be
subpoenaed to defend
the hard rain that by His decree
the thunderclouds will send.
The executioner conceals
His face, His color black,
and One the number He reveals.
There is no almanac
predicting what I say, but do
remember me when rain
falls harder than a wandering Jew
hurled in a hurricane.
Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, ” which I heard played on the radio last night when driving to see “The Brave One, ” a Jodie Foster movie which Bob’s song could have been describing. The critics do not like the movie, denying the plausibility of the plot, in apparent denial of the reality of hard rain.
Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand takers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, who did you meet my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
[ Lyrics provided by www.mp3lyrics.org ]
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded and hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what'll you do now my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the deepths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my songs well before I start singin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
9/18/07
gershon hepner
http://www.poemhunter.com/
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