Lines in Pleasant Places Rhythmics of many moods and quantities. Wise and otherwise |
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[The wind went howling round the town] |
 | Lines in Pleasant Places |  |
[The wind went howling round the town]
The wind went howling round the town,Turning things everywhere upside down,
Ripping off roofs and chimney-tops,
And throwing bricks round thick as hops;
The air was filled with hurtling beams,
And the water poured adown in streams;
The steeples toppled, and falling seemed,
As the fierce gale blew and wildly screamed;
The giant trees uprooted lay
Where the fierce tempest sped its way;
But wonderful more than all that befell
Was the fate of the man with the umberel!
When the rain came down in angry spite,
His umberel he held upright,
And round and round the circling gale
Swept him on as if under sail.
He couldn't stop, but twirled about,
Still holding on to the handle stout,
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Till the gust prevailed and up he went!
Up o'er the house-tops then sailed he,
Like a feather borne on the surging sea;
Up and up to a fearful height,
Up and up till out of sight,
And when last seen he gave a yell,
But still held on to the umberel!
Folks looked from window and from door—
They stared; but he appeared no more;
They shuddered and whispered, “Who can tell
The fate of the man and his umberel?”
Next day a mariner out at sea
Spied, away up in the canopy,
A something seeming a monstrous bird,
From which a feeble cry was heard:
“Schooner, ahoy!—arriving tell
That you saw the man and his umberel!”
Only a moment the man was seen,
Then melted away in the blue serene;
And nevermore will he be found
These gay and festive scenes around,
And gossips long the tale will tell
How the man went up with his umberel!
| Lines in Pleasant Places | |