The Rainy Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

     Depression is becoming overwhelmed by negative emotions or feelings, allowing them to blanket the sky and hide the all that is light from view.  This creates a whirlpool, drawing people into the bottom of the metaphorical sea, and into the abyss below.  Even the memories of the green years of youth turn into an ever tangible reminder of the disparity between it and the present.  These lines comprising Longfellow's poem show these facets of mental and emotional exhaustion.  With a withering wind biting at the last emaciated vine growing along the wall (the narrator's thoughts growing along the past), the more beneficent passions of life are being eroded. All early ambitions seem to be extinguished by the hazards of such endeavors, leaving a disheartened being.  However, the motif of a spirit void of joy is broken by the final lines of the poem. Showing true strength the plagued narrator fights on, and resolves to break through the grip of the dreary, as soon as the appointed time has passed.  Overall I believe this is an excellent poem which shows the power of spirit to mend frays and continue to cloth the humanity of humans.