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Good Friday Rain
I wake and hear the rain cascade.
Its cleansing drops roll down my pane;
They soak the garden, bathe the glade,
Refresh the grass, and swell the grain.
Stretched out in bed, from stress aloof,
I lie in peace, content to hear
The pleasing patter on my roof
That fills my thankful heart with cheer.
I think, “How fitting, on this day,
That rain should call to mind those hours
When our dread debt God deigned to pay
Through grace outpoured in copious showers!”
The blood that Christ shed on that day
In crimson streams flowed from the cross
To wash sin’s darkest stains away,
Restoring life through His life’s loss.
As mighty cloudbursts from the sky
Pour forth their waters in a flood,
So Christ, when He went forth to die,
Poured out Himself in tears and blood.
When through His ribs, a sword was thrust,
His loving heart was dealt a blow,
That from pierced chambers, pure and just,
Unending streams of grace might flow.
Those streams call all who’ve gone astray,
Now sullied in the mire of sin,
To come and wash their stains away,
To be restored without, within.
They call all those whom grace redeems
To blossom like a rain-drenched flower,
Abiding in those flowing streams
To know His cleansing, hour by hour.
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Martin Rizley grew up in Oklahoma and in Texas, and has served in pastoral ministry both in the United States and in Europe. He is currently serving as the pastor of a small evangelical church in the city of Málaga on the southern coast of Spain, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
The poem starts simply and naturally, Martin, but develops meaningfully with each stanza. Even in the first, there is foreshadowing in “cleansing” and “swell the grain” (referring to the grain of wheat that must die in order to be productive). Stanzas four through seven are central meditations on the Passion. In each, the final line asks for a pause, and in stanza seven, the whole is intense. The last two stanzas of the poem apply the rain of Christ’s blood to the redeemed, and call for acceptance of the sacrifice made for us. The very last returns to the first stanza, showing the growth that results from the rain, and making the repeated “cleansing” a word of power for new life. I especially like those last words “hour by hour,” demonstrating the continual and cumulative effect of the rain of precious blood. A most worthy use of weather!
Thank you, Margaret, for your thoughtful analysis of the poem´s structure. I learn so much when I read your insightful comments about what is happening in a poem, for it is true that, oftentimes, poets do things in crafting a poem, led by a sense of poetic “intuition,” without being fully aware of their own thought processes. A good literary critic can bring those things to light, which helps a poet become more aware of the things they have done right or wrong, and thus, more deliberate and meticulous in the writing process.
Although I’m not the most fervent of Christians, the extended metaphors linked to the religiosity of the poem makes this a wonderful piece of verse.
Those dreaded assemblies at school would have meant so much more with a piece like this or Mr Tweedie’s.
Great picture, too, Evan.
Thanks for the read, Martin.
Thank you, Paul, for your feedback. I am also very pleased with the picture Evan chose to accompany the poem.
My experience of school assemblies is somewhat different than your own.
When I was very young, I went to private school that had a weekly chapel service led by a very cultured Englishman with a wonderful British accent. He had a love for C.S. Lewis’ Chronices of Narnia (which he read to my brother´s class) and a certain theatricality about him that held our attention. So I have rather positive (if somewhat vague) memories of those assemblies.
A beautiful poem on a very important day. Thank you for sharing this, Mr. Rizley. Wishing you and your family a blessed Good Friday.
Dear Martin,
This is a meaningful and beautifully written devotional poem. I love the whole poem and its meaning. The second couplet has a particular poetic delightfulness to it.
Gigi
Martin, this is one of the most beautiful Easter poems I have ever read. It sings hymnlike to my heart. The closing stanza is a triumph. Thank you and a happy Easter to you.
It was nice to read this not just on Good Friday, but with cloud cover and drizzle. It makes the poem come to life. Even without the visual effects, its a wonderful meditation to put everything into perspective.
Comparing the rainy day you had with the pouring out of Himself and the phrase, “Unending streams of grace might flow,” is a divine inspiration that was one of many I encountered in your beautiful poem!