Sometimes a rain comes
slowly across the sky, that turns
upon its grey cloud, breaking away into light
before it reaches its objective.
The rain I have known and traded all this life
is thrown like kelp on the beach.
Like some shape of conscience I cannot look at,
a malignant purpose in a nun’s eye.
Who was the last man on earth,
to whom the cold cloud brought the blood to his face?
Numbly I climb to the mountain-tops of ours
where my own soul quivers on the edge of answers.
Which still, stale air sits on an angel’s wings?
What holds my rain so it’s hard to overcome?
(Jayanta Mahapatra, 1928-2023, won the Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry in 1981. A Rain of Rites was published in 1974 in Poetry magazine, US)
This series explores the most pressing environmental issues through the prism of literature
This was originally published in the 16-31 May, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth