A deliberator’s guide.
By Nancy English
No. 1 Tuck yourself into the walled Longfellow Garden beside Maine Historical Society and behind the Wadsworth-Longfellow House to slow your breathing and think “long, long thoughts.” This is the spot that inspired Longfellow to write “The Rainy Day” poem. Visit in the rain, sit under your umbrella, shiver along with the jostling leaves, and breathe in the washed air.
Read the full story in the digital magazine above.
Fantastic opening picture by Jesse Stenbak. As a Portlander, I treasure the knowledge that it was right here that Longfellow wrote the world-famous melancholy poem “The Rainy Day.”
The Rainy Day
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
**If anyone thinks “into each life some rain must fall” is the stuff of Hallmark cards, imagine being the first person on Earth to say it.
I’m guessing he couldn’t have written this poem in a relentlessly sunny place like San Diego…