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Night Rain

In the dark of the night, rain;
Unlocking of water-floods;
Washing away, obliterating
All night-whisperings;
Nought but the sound of falling waters
Returning whence they came.

By the noise of the rain set apart
In a lightless cloister,
What am I, in the night,
Listening to my suppliant heart
In the play of thy forces, Genetrix,
What am I but a particle tossed
Upon vast arterial waterways,
Borne down in the dark?

In the ark of thought I abide,
Lattice-wrought of experience,
Faith-pitched for bitumen,
And apocalypse to guide,
Riding on the tide of consciousness,
On waves of pleasure, pain;
Responsive microcosm, alive
And free upon the great main,
Out of this musical enclosure,
This ringing cage of rain.