BAREFOOTED boys scud up the street Or skurry under sheltering sheds; And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet, Gleam from the shawls about their heads. Doors bang; and mother-voices call From alien homes; and rusty gates Are slammed; and high above it all, The thunder grim reverberates. And then, abrupt, -- the rain! the rain! The earth lies gasping; and the eyes Behind the streaming window-pane Smile at the trouble of the skies. The highway smokes; sharp echoes ring; The cattle bawl and cow-bells clank; And into town comes galloping The farmer's horse, with steaming flank. The swallow dips beneath the eaves And flirts his plumes and folds his wings; And under the Catawba leaves The caterpillar curls and clings. The bumblebee is pelted down The wet stem of the hollyhock; And sullenly, in spattered brown, The cricket leaps the garden-walk. Within, the baby claps his hands And crows with rapture strange and vague; Without, beneath the rose-bush stands A dripping rooster on one leg. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOOD-BYE DOROTHY GAYLE: HOME TO FARGO by KAREN SWENSON THE LAST WISH by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE RAIN by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES A SONG FOR ST. CECILIA'S DAY by JOHN DRYDEN PROUD MAISIE, FR. THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN by WALTER SCOTT AS THE GREEK'S SIGNAL FLAME by WALT WHITMAN A RECEIPT FOR WRITING A NOVEL by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK A PRIZE RIDDLE ON HERSELF WHEN 24 by ELIZABETH FRANCES AMHERST |