 | Rhymes with reason and without |  |
36
THE SUMMER RAIN.
The farmer's heart was sad, his toil was vain,
His famished crops were crisping in the field,
For not one drop of life-sustaining rain
Did the red clouds of summer deign to yield.
His famished crops were crisping in the field,
For not one drop of life-sustaining rain
Did the red clouds of summer deign to yield.
The cattle 'neath the trees, with lolling tongue,
Gave up the search for herbage in despair,
And listless in the shade their heads they hung,
And chewed their cuds with most desponding air.
Gave up the search for herbage in despair,
And listless in the shade their heads they hung,
And chewed their cuds with most desponding air.
The brook was dry, or stood, a muddy pool,
Whose stagnant waters none might dare to drink,
Which late, in crystal brightness, pure and cool,
Wooed with its song the thirsty to its brink.
Whose stagnant waters none might dare to drink,
Which late, in crystal brightness, pure and cool,
Wooed with its song the thirsty to its brink.
The burning sun drank up the pearly dew
That evening, pitying, on creation shed,
And o'er the parchéd earth his hot beams threw—
The herbage sickened and the flowers lay dead.
That evening, pitying, on creation shed,
And o'er the parchéd earth his hot beams threw—
The herbage sickened and the flowers lay dead.
The river shimmered in his lurid rays,
The corn grew dry and withered as it stood,
The fainting birds scarce raised their tuneful lays
In dim recesses of the ancient wood.
The corn grew dry and withered as it stood,
The fainting birds scarce raised their tuneful lays
In dim recesses of the ancient wood.
37
Then man and vegetation prayed for rain—
The withered stalks, like famished hands, were raised;
But day by day was man's petition vain,
The clouds arose and vanished as he gazed.
The withered stalks, like famished hands, were raised;
But day by day was man's petition vain,
The clouds arose and vanished as he gazed.
At length the blessed boon, so long withheld,
Came like an angel down in man's dismay,
Cheering the heart that well-nigh had rebelled,
And giving joy where grief erewhile held sway.
Came like an angel down in man's dismay,
Cheering the heart that well-nigh had rebelled,
And giving joy where grief erewhile held sway.
The thirsty earth drank in, with greedy tongue,
The cooling flood that trickled o'er its breast;
The trees abroad their arms enraptured flung,
And grass and flower once more upreared their crest;
The cooling flood that trickled o'er its breast;
The trees abroad their arms enraptured flung,
And grass and flower once more upreared their crest;
The brooks again resumed their gladsome song,
And through the meadows took their cheerful way;
Once more the corn its verdant pennons flung,
Once more the birds made merry on the spray.
And through the meadows took their cheerful way;
Once more the corn its verdant pennons flung,
Once more the birds made merry on the spray.
The farmer's heart grew glad, and on his knee,
His voice attuned with warm devotion's strain,
He poured his soul in gratitude to see
The blessed coming of the summer rain—
His voice attuned with warm devotion's strain,
He poured his soul in gratitude to see
The blessed coming of the summer rain—
Which falls, like God's own spirit, on the dust
Of man's fallen nature, dead in sin and pain,
Till with a newer hope and holier trust
It wakens into life and joy again.
Of man's fallen nature, dead in sin and pain,
Till with a newer hope and holier trust
It wakens into life and joy again.
| Rhymes with reason and without | |