The Rain


When fresh water leaves the salty sea
God's distillation starts in vapour phase
Molecules rise up to velvet clouds
Drifting swiftly overland in days

The sun withdraws itself from sight
As rainclouds fill the sky
Tons of liquid water fast descend
Nowhere anywhere is dry

Every pipe and reservoir
Fluid-filled and choked
And those exposed on land are
Very wet and soaked

But this is just the sacrifice
That we on land must make
It's needed for the upkeep
Of every stream and lake

And most of all we need
The rains to bless the farm
Sustaining us in daily life
In spite of seeming harm

Like any other cycle
It must complete its course
Cascading to the oceans
With overwhelming force

--by Peter Elias

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Our Poetic Planet: Poems that Describe the Earth

What’s the weather like? Ask a poet! Poetry about weather and other aspects of Earth can be very descriptive. Giving a sense of the environment through their words, poets describe the planet in interesting...more

Clouds in Art

Landscape painters have been representing clouds in their art for centuries. Different artists with different styles have painted clouds differently. What's more, there are many different types of clouds...more

The Sky is Low, The Clouds Are Mean, a poem by Emily Dickinson

The Sky Is Low, The Clouds Are Mean The sky is low, the clouds are mean, A travelling flake of snow Across a barn or through a rut Debates if it will go. A narrow wind complains all day How some one treated...more

Water, a poem by Pablo Neruda

Water Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble pricked and the green thread nibbled away, the petal fell, falling until the only flower was the falling itself. Water is another matter, has no direction...more

When The Sun Come After Rain, a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

When The Sun Come After Rain When the sun comes after rain And the bird is in the blue, The girls go down the lane Two by two. When the sun comes after shadow And the singing of the showers, The girls...more

Spellbound, a poem by Emily Brontë

The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed with snow. And the storm is fast...more

The Cloud, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA