O Great Rain!
     By Shant Norashkharian

O great rain,
What would my wilderness be
Without your sweet company?
O greatest music of all,
The sky's kiss on the warm soil,
O blesser of thirsty lips,
The tears of joy when nature weeps...
O greatest lover of all,
You give without asking more,
Abundantly to all fields,
And the mountains and the seas...

Stay a little...

O great rain,
What would my deep sadness be
Without your sweet melody?
Come and soothe my lonely soul,
Which is consumed like red coal,
Come and blow your cooling breeze,
For my wounds and pain to ease...
O greatest seeker of all,
With each drop you reveal more
Than a thousand mysteries,
The wisdom of centuries...

Stay a little...

O great rain,
What would my confused mind be
Without your sweet harmony?
Every vein of every tree,
Every heart has prayed to see
Your beauty and glory,
O you great rain so holy,
You bring angels piety,
Widowed mothers dignity,
Music that gods themselves seek
And everything strong and weak...

Stay a little...

O great rain,
What would my victory be
Without the strength you give me?
You move rocks with tenderness,
You give peasants happiness,
Inspiration to poets,
And a new life to rivers...
You give faith to the faithless,
To the warriors  compassion,
You put the child to sound sleep,
And in sound health crops you keep...

Stay a little...

O great rain,
What would my patience be
Without all that you taught me?
To honor the winter wind,
For the spring that it will bring,
To respect the lowly seed,
Life even in grass and weed,
To persevere, to believe
In the smile that follows grief,
In the good of everyone
That the bad will soon be gone...

Stay a little...

Come rain, come sweet rain,
What would my solitude be
Without a friend to visit me?
If I could not share my dreams,
Whisper secrets in your ears,
If I could not forget those
Who told me their tales of woes,
Those once loved and abandoned,
Forever gone yet now sought,
Those hopes for respect I thought,
Was now long due to my work...

Stay a little...

O rain,
O great rain,
O sweet rain,
Stay a little...
Stay a little...
Stay a little...


Creal Springs,
Illinois, 1992
         The Poetry Of Shant Norashkharian
From 1988  To 2007
Poems of 1992
I dedicate this page to the great Johann Sebastian Bach, who gave me much strength when I was in great need. May the Lord God bless him forever.
“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

                J.S. Bach
"The immortal god of harmony."

"His name should not be Brook (Bach), it should be Ocean."

Ludwig van Beethoven
"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Since the best man could not be obtained, mediocre ones would have to be accepted.

Leipzig mayor Abraham Platz, 1723, commenting on appointing Bach as the                                 Cantor of St Thomas School, Leipzig, when Graupner refused the post.
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
         Berthold Auerbach
Bach is Bach, and God is God.

       Hector Berlioz
“Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.”

J.S. Bach
  "Gloria in excelsis Deo,

  Glory to God in the highest,

  et in terra pax

  and on earth peace

  hominibus bonae voluntatis.

  to men of good will.

  Laudamus te, benedicimus te,

  We praise You, we bless You,

  adoramus te, glorificamus te,

  we worship You, we glorify You,

  gratias agimus tibi

  we thank You

  propter magnam gloriam tuam

  for Your great glory"

                    From the B Minor Mass