“Love Prepared for the Rain” is a poem that reflects on how beauty and suffering often arrive intertwined. Through the elemental imagery of rain, petals, and birds, the verses trace the delicate moments when love withstands hardship yet remains luminous.
Its quiet restraint allows emotion to surface through symbol rather than declaration, revealing how even brief blossoming leaves a lasting imprint. In this meditation on tenderness, loss, and renewal, the poem suggests that love prepares us not only for joy, but also for the inevitable rain that shapes who we become.
Love Prepared for the Rain
By Cathy Xinman
Rain fell so hard
it struck the sunlight down.
The petals watched the rain
with their whole being.
Their ripened bodies,
their lips of flame—
had been prepared for the rain.
At last the sun came out.
Birds burst into colours.
Among the petals struck down by rain,
there was no crying.
Good.
For a moment—
I thought the birds were not real.
Who needs so much suffering?
If it is true,
it does not deceive you.
You laughed in great mouthfuls.
The terrible beauty
of loving and being loved.
Time
once passed through a brief space.
Brief blossoming,
brief falling.
There is always a goodbye.
If only some of it had been false.
Cathy Xinman writes poetry in English and Chinese. Find her English-language collection, Where You Love Yourself, on Amazon. You can also hear her poetry on her TikTok page.
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