Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RAIN AFTER DROUGHT, by ALLAN PARK PATON First Line: Am I awake, or is it a dream? Last Line: Welcome reviver! Hurrah, for the rain! Subject(s): Rain | ||||||||
(Time: four o'clock morning.) AM I awake, or is it a dream? Beside the fresh run of a streamlet I seem; And, strange! o'er my head it seems to be flowing, I hear it as over the roof it is going, And the eaves, ah, how lulling its strain! Now it grows more distinct -- it is tinkling and clear, Oh, can it be it which is blessing my ear? Rain it must be! -- Hurrah, for the rain! The bright-dashing rain! The fresh-splashing rain! Welcome reviver! -- Hurrah, for the rain! Oh, I could lie ever and listen thy fall, At a season like this when thou'rt welcome to all; But when all my green friends are again lifting up Their branches with joy, as they drink from your cup, Shall I but a hearer remain? No, no! I must up! I must see thy return -- I must see the fires quenching that lately did burn: -- There thou art! Oh, hurrah, for the rain! The sweet-singing rain! The clear-ringing rain! Welcome reviver! Hurrah, for the rain! Hurrah, for the rain! Methinks through the land I see her brown sons at their farm thresholds stand, Awaken'd, like me, by thy hope-bringing sound, And gazing with joy on their hard-labour'd ground, Till, before them, of deep golden grain, Large seas seem to rise, and in fancy are seen Their cattle and flocks amid pasturage green Browsing happy: -- Hurrah, for the rain! In their mind's eye already is groaning the wain, And the barn is busy: -- Hurrah, for the rain! The fear-stilling rain! The barn-filling rain! Welcome reviver! Hurrah, for the rain! How drippingly-fresh the large trees o'er the road! (No sounds save from them, and the rain now abroad,) And how glad-like, reliev'd-like, look tree, bush, and flow'r, In our own little garden wash'd by the bright show'r; Such a sight to the soul is a gain! It adds to our hope, and it adds to our faith; It is like fresh existence succeeding to death; Such a sight! -- Oh, hurrah for the rain! From all idle frettings it makes us refrain; God is late, but is coming! -- Hurrah, for the rain! The crystal-glob'd rain! The fairy-rob'd rain! Welcome reviver! Hurrah, for the rain! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DISTANT RAINFALL by ROBINSON JEFFERS CHAMBER MUSIC: 32 by JAMES JOYCE HEAVY SUMMER RAIN by JANE KENYON CROWD CORRALLING by MARGARET AVISON THE RAIN-POOL by KARLE WILSON BAKER ON THE GREAT ATLANTIC RAINWAY by KENNETH KOCH SONNETS: 1 by ALLAN PARK PATON |
|