The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks and gapes for drink again;
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair.
Anacreontiques. A. COWLEY.
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
RAINBOW.
Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!
Idylls of the King: The Coming of Arthur. A. TENNYSON.
Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray,
Each in the other melting.
The Evening Rainbow. R. SOUTHEY.
Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky,
When storms prepare to part;
I ask not proud Philosophy
To teach me what thou art.
To the Rainbow. T. CAMPBELL.
What skilful limner e'er would choose
To paint the rainbow's varying hues,
Unless to mortal it were given
To dip his brush in dyes of heaven?
Marmion, Canto VI. SIR W. SCOTT.
Bright pledge of peace and sunshine! the sure tie
Of thy Lord's hand, the object of His eye!
When I behold thee, though my light be dim,
Distinct, and low, I can in thine see Him
Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne,
And minds the covenant between all and One.
The Rainbow. H. VAUGHAN.
READING.
I had found the secret of a garret room
Piled high with cases in my father's name;
Piled high, packed large,—where, creeping in and out
Among the giant fossils of my past,
Like some small nimble mouse between the ribs
Of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there
At this or that box, pulling through the gap,
In heats of terror, haste, victorious joy,
The first book first. And how I felt it beat
Under my pillow, in the morning's dark,
An hour before the sun would let me read!
Aurora Leigh, Bk. I. E.B. BROWNING.