If There is Autumn Rain
A poem by David Herbert Richards
Art: Rain by lifewire
Music: Si Se Da by Bad Rabbit
About the Poem
David Herbert Richards's Autumn Rain transforms a simple rainfall into a haunting harvest of grief. The scene opens with black, wet plane leaves on a lawn and drooping cloud sheaves in the sky, setting a somber, heavy mood. As the rain falls on the speaker's face, it becomes the "seed of heaven," and the poem reimagines the entire storm as a divine threshing floor. Here, the winds tread out the "grain of tears," and the sheaves of pain are winnowed from the slain dead, falling as an invisible manna of suffering. The stakes are existential, turning a natural weather event into a sacred, sorrowful ritual where every drop carries the weight of human loss. Through this sustained metaphor, Richards suggests that the rain is not just water but the dispersed essence of all earthly pain, gently and ceaselessly descending from a heaven that stores our collective tears.
About the Music
Bad Rabbit’s Si Se Da is an upbeat, feel-good track that blends classic pop with Latin flair, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere perfect for corporate promos, holiday campaigns, or lifestyle content. The instrumentation features bright acoustic guitars, gentle percussion, and a smooth, bouncy bassline that evokes a sun-drenched, exotic yet peaceful vibe. With a moderate tempo and a happy, positive energy, the piece feels like a breezy afternoon celebration, ideal for party scenes or fashion visuals. Its melodic simplicity and warm harmonies suggest a style reminiscent of laid-back Latin pop acts like Manu Chao or early Santana, without being derivative. The track’s uplifting yet peaceful mood makes it versatile for anything from lifestyle vlogs to cozy holiday montages, wrapping listeners in a sense of easygoing joy and exotic warmth.
About the Art
Digital artist lifewire captures a somber atmosphere in Rain, a digital painting depicting a dark, rain-soaked field stretching toward a cluster of distant buildings. The composition draws the eye across the wet ground, where puddles reflect the dim, overcast sky, toward the shadowed structures on the horizon. Lifewire uses a muted, monochromatic palette of deep grays, blacks, and subtle blue tones to reinforce the mood of melancholy and isolation. The technique involves soft, blurred brushwork for the rain and a sharper focus on the building silhouettes, creating depth and a sense of quiet desolation. The artwork evokes the brooding landscapes of 19th-century Romantic painters like Caspar David Friedrich, translated into a modern digital medium. Key visual elements include the slanting rain streaks, the reflective puddles, and the stark contrast between the empty foreground and the distant, barely visible architecture, all contributing to a hauntingly still, contemplative scene.
Full Poem
The plane leaves fall black and wet on the lawn; The cloud sheaves in heaven's fields set droop and are drawn in falling seeds of rain; the seed of heaven on my face falling, I hear again like echoes even that softly pace. Heaven's muffled floor, the winds that tread out all the grain of tears, the store harvested in the sheaves of pain caught up aloft: the sheaves of dead men that are slain now winnowed soft on the floor of heaven; manna invisible of all the pain here to us given; finely divisible falling as rain.
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