 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
1267
THE RAIN
I
The rain! the rain! the rain!It gushed from the skies and streamed
Like awful tears; and the sick man thought
How pitiful it seemed!
And he turned his face away
And stared at the wall again,
His hopes nigh dead and his heart worn out.
O the rain! the rain! the rain!
II
The rain! the rain! the rain!And the broad stream brimmed the shores;
And ever the river crept over the reeds
And the roots of the sycamores:
A corpse swirled by in a drift
Where the boat had snapt its chain—
And a hoarse-voiced mother shrieked and raved.
O the rain! the rain! the rain!
1268
III
The rain! the rain! the rain!—Pouring, with never a pause,
Over the fields and the green byways—
How beautiful it was!
And the new-made man and wife
Stood at the window-pane
Like two glad children kept from school.
O the rain! the rain! the rain!
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |