Featured Poem: The Rainy Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today's poem has been chosen to complement, not to say compliment, the "barbecue summer" we're currently enjoying. I think there's a chance - a slim one, but a chance - that if we all read it aloud it will act as a kind of charm or spell, the clouds will evaporate and blue sky will reign once more... Worth a try surely? In any case, it's a very touching poem, about much more than the weather, by a poet who has unfairly dropped out of fashion. Hope you like it.

The Rainy Day

THE DAY is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
    And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
    And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
    Some days must be dark and dreary.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)