Page 4 - CL IX CH 08-RAIN ON THE ROOF-LN2

Stanza 3

Now in memory comes my mother,
As she used in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn:
O! I feel her fond look on me
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.

ere: old poetic word for „before‟
dawn: day break
list: old poetic word for‟ listen‟
refrain: a repeated part of a song or a poem; here, the sound of the rain

Here, the poet introduces his mother. He says that he is dreaming of his mother. As he had
told in the previous stanza that rain brings memories of the past – it is the memory of his
mother who is no longer alive. In the past, she used to love him a lot, she used to consider
him a darling and she would let him sleep till day break and have sweet dreams. The poet
can still feel that his mother is looking at him as he listens to the song made by the rain
drops falling on the roof top of his room. The sound of the rain makes him correlate his past
with his present. That is why the poet is moved by the sound of the rain drops on the shingles
of his room. Whenever he hears this sound it brings back memories of the past and he is
reminded of his mother.

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