"Waited for rain..."
Instead of "waited", the original version reads "writhed"(V. Eliot 77). This wording was changed because the lack of action in the verb gave the leaves a more passive role. They cannot make the water come any faster by writhing, so they are still, waiting. This wording is reminiscent of Eliot's "East Coker":
"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing..."(Eliot 180)
This website the work of Abigail L. Bunting
"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing..."(Eliot 180)
This website the work of Abigail L. Bunting