 | Later Lays and Lyrics |  |
SUMMER RAIN.
I.
What sound so sweet,After a day of fiery heat,
And sunstrokes in the dusty street,
As the pleasant voice of the singing rain
Dashing against the window pane.
II.
The queenly rose,And vassal flowers their eyes unclose,
While God his benison bestows;
And the sick man dreams of health again
Cheered by the dance of the dropping rain.
38
III.
The bubbles break,While showers descend on the breezy lake,
And the water nymphs from slumber wake.
Homeward driving his harvest wain
The farmer curses the cooling rain!
IV.
The plague fiend stopsIn his dread career to hear the drops;
Then, farmer! why mourn o'er your crops?
True faith sublime ne'er leaned in vain
On the Power that sends us the healing rain.
V.
It bringeth cureTo the blistered feet of the starving poor,
And their hearts are strengthened to endure;
While wo, in love with life again,
His hot brow bares to the welcome rain.
VI.
Of murmuring shells,And the silvery chime of fairy bells,
Were never born such music spells,
To cheer the visionary brain
Of listening bard as the summer rain.
VII.
Earth looks more fairWhen drops that banish the sun's hot glare
Fall from the cisterns of upper air;
And her breast is cleansed of many a stain
By the gentle bath of the summer rain.
39
VIII.
It caught its chime,Not in this fading realm of time,
But above, above in a holier clime;
And I ever hear an angel's strain
Blend with the dash of the summer rain.
| Later Lays and Lyrics | |