After Long Drought Poem by Mark Van Doren

After Long Drought

Rating: 3.5


After long drought, commotion in the sky;
After dead silence, thunder. Then it comes,
The rain. It slashes leaves, and doubly drums
On tin and shingle; beats and bends awry
The flower heads; puddles dust, and with a sigh
Like love sinks into grasses, where it hums
As bees did once, among chrysanthemums
And asters when the summer thought to die.

The whole world dreamed of this, and has it now.
Nor was the waking easy. The dull root
Is jealous of its death; the sleepy brow
Smiles in its slumber; and a heart can fear
The very flood it longed for, roaring near.
The spirit best remembers being mute.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Soren Svenson 27 November 2005

i had to recite this at school...i fell in love with it...j.i.

1 0 Reply
Aftab Alam Khursheed 18 September 2014

Through Drought, poet painted the agony of life and post happiness as thunder, rain and......

1 0 Reply
Chinedu Dike 22 January 2023

An insightful creation nicely put together with beautiful rhyme scheme

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MAHTAB BANGALEE 22 January 2023

After long something bad or good comes something reverse (viceversa) ; nice to read the poem

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M Asim Nehal 13 January 2016

Nice lines.. The whole world dreamed of this, and has it now. Nor was the waking easy. The dull root Is jealous of its death; the sleepy brow Smiles in its slumber; and a heart can fear The very flood it longed for, roaring near. The spirit best remembers being mute.

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Ratnakar Mandlik 13 January 2016

Amazing narration of plight during drought and sigh of relief and awe due to thunder storm and heavy rains at the end of it's lengthy spell. Thanks for sharing.

1 0 Reply
Daniel Richmond 18 September 2014

This is amazing, did they really have droughts before global warming?

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Mark Van Doren

Mark Van Doren

Hope, Illinois,
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