Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HAIL STORM, by JOHN COLMAN EVANS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HAIL STORM, by                    
First Line: We stood knee-deep among the corn
Last Line: And found him hanging in the barn.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Harvest; Storms; Suicide; Agriculture; Farmers


We stood knee-deep among the corn,
And talked of early crops and such,
And whether oats would ripen soon,
And Joe said:"Well, 'twon't matter much
If showers hold off a few days now;
We've had a heap of rainfall here --
And harvesting will soon begin;
A lot depends on things this year."

And then one noon a great, black cloud
Sailed slowly up the western skies,
Stuck out its ragged, dirty head,
And looked with sullen, ghastly eyes;
Then all the sickly sky grew weird
And yellow in the rising gale
That shrieked and bellowed. In an hour
The crops were all wiped out by hail.

Well, Joe dragged out to start his chores;
And Joe's dad, he began to tell
About how down in Kansas once,
He went through seven years of hell;
And I got restless sitting there,
And hearing all the old man's yarn;
So I went out to look for Joe,
And found him hanging in the barn.





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