You know me; I've come from the sky just to touch you.
Yeah, you know me; I've fallen so far and so fast.
I am bound for the sea, I've watched the world turn beneath me.
I have stopped to caress you, I'm on my way home at last.
I am the voice of the Mother,
I am the Father's strong hand.
I kiss the eyelids of warriors,
I carve the mountains to sand...
You know me; I am the creature that haunts you.
I am out in the night, seeking a way to your bones.
I am the howl and the laughter you hear all around you.
and I know you, and all of the demons you've known.
I'll take all your sins and your secrets,
and I'll carry them back to the stars.
where all of your curses are murmurs,
Come back to bless you, wherever you are.
And haven't you spent your whole life naming the rain?
Haven't you spent your whole life naming the rain?
I'll laugh at your funeral, cry at your birth,
I'll tear down your statues and nourish the Earth,
and haven't you spent your whole life just naming the rain.
Who am I, when I am cold and relentless,
and who am I, when I am playful and warm?
I can be sharp as a needle, or gentle as kisses,
In all of the places you go, you walk in my arms.
I'll chase you in to your shelters,
then I beg you to come out and play.
I'll hide your weeping from strangers,
and wash all the poisons away...
And haven't you spent your whole life just naming the rain?
Yeah, haven't you spent your whole life just naming the rain?
I am running at midnight, I am loving at dawn;
I can sing you to sleep with my infinite song ...
and haven't you spent your whole life just naming the rain?
bridge:
Sun seduce me, heat me up; pour me into the sky.
Wind, come dance with me, fill me up with all of the places you've been.
Fire, flirt with me; thunder, laugh with me, gather me close to your heart.
Earth receive me, joyfully falling, whisper my name in your sleep...
Ending:
I am the laughter of children,
and I am the blood in your veins.
All of the drops in the ocean,
are all of your names for the rain.
And haven't you spent your whole life just naming the rain...
Music and melody upon request.
In her novella "Motherlines," Suzie McKee-Charnas depicts bands of woman-warrior clans who start a lot of their hunting, riding and battle songs with "you know me." I've always thought that this was a very wonderful way to start anything; a prayer especially, which this song is about as close to as I'll ever get. I now say "you know me," to animals I need to soothe, sometimes even to people I need to soothe. You know me, I am known to you and shown to you so you do not need to fear me. I am not the unknown any more. Beautiful.
I've always been fascinated by the rain; its infinite number of flavors, tones, sounds, smells, the visual fascination with the rainbow and with gazing at half-seen shapes in the clouds, a tabula rasa for the imagination. I've read somewhere that the Inuit have 215 words for snow, but I don't know of many words like that for rain. It, combined with the fascination I have with water in general, and how it seems to act as the "blood of the earth," to be cliche, led me to this song. It started out strong, but I might go back and strengthen some of the lines near the ending. Considered a WIP, to be sung a few times for a few people to see how it goes over.
Completed Sep. 11, 2002.