A Summer Shower.
Welcome, O summer rain;
To thirsty hill and plain,
To desolate beds of streams of all their waves run dry.
We know who sent thee forth
From out the windy north,
To trail thy cooling fountains through the sultry sky.
The parchéd earth drinks up
The crystal-flowing cup;
The dusty grasses wash them emerald-green again:
The sweet, drenched roses sigh
In fragrant ecstasy;
The truant brooks foam down their glistening beds amain.
The robins, full of glee,
Answer from tree to tree;
'Neath dusky boughs the glancing orioles, aglow,
Mimic the vivid play
Of lightnings far away,
That southward toss their fiery shuttles to and fro:
While at the fall and lift
Of lights and shadows swift,
Titanic laughter rolls through all the bending skies,
And every water-bead
Trembles, but laughs, indeed,
And every insect quicklier breathes as low he lies.
O Heart! whose pity flows
To cheer the languid rose.
O Hand! outstretched to wake the brooklet's merry din,
Behold me like a blot
Upon this happy spot,
Where joys knock at my door, but never enter in!
Behold the arid ways
Through which my weary days
Tread with unfruitful steps that wander far from thee;
The wasted heart and brain,
All empty, save for pain;
Behold the hidden thorn which thou alone canst see;
And while my fainting sighs
Through nature's hymn arise,
O Comforter of flowers! leave not me to die!
But send thy heavenly rain
Unto my soul again,
Even to me, as grieving in the dust I lie!