A Short Story of Falling : Alice Oswald

It is the story of the falling rain 
to turn into a leaf and fall again 

it is the secret of a summer shower 
to steal the light and hide it in a flower 

and every flower a tiny tributary 
that from the ground flows green and momentary 

is one of water’s wishes and this tale 
hangs in a seed-head smaller than my thumbnail 

if only I a passer-by could pass 
as clear as water through a plume of grass 

to find the sunlight hidden at the tip 
turning to seed a kind of lifting rain drip 

then I might know like water how to balance 
the weight of hope against the light of patience 

water which is so raw so earthy-strong 
and lurks in cast-iron tanks and leaks along 

drawn under gravity towards my tongue
to cool and fill the pipe-work of this song 

which is the story of the falling rain 
that rises to the light and falls again

~ Alice Oswald
( From ' Tomorrow is Beautiful ' 
Poems to comfort, uplift and delight chosen by Sarah Crossan )