Volume Iii Part 30 (2/2)

Robert Loveman [1864-1923]

SUMMER INVOCATION

O gentle, gentle summer rain, Let not the silver lily pine, The drooping lily pine in vain To feel that dewy touch of thine,-- To drink thy freshness once again, O gentle, gentle summer rain!

In heat the landscape quivering lies; The cattle pant beneath the tree; Through parching air and purple skies The earth looks up, in vain, for thee; For thee--for thee, it looks in vain O gentle, gentle summer rain.

Come thou, and brim the meadow streams, And soften all the hills with mist, O falling dew! from burning dreams By thee shall herb and flower be kissed, And Earth shall bless thee yet again, O gentle, gentle summer rain.

William c.o.x Bennett [1820-1895]

APRIL RAIN

The April rain, the April rain, Comes slanting down in fitful showers, Then from the furrow shoots the grain, And banks are edged with nestling flowers; And in gray shaw and woodland bowers The cuckoo through the April rain Calls once again.

The April sun, the April sun, Glints through the rain in fitful splendor, And in gray shaw and woodland dun The little leaves spring forth and tender Their infant hands, yet weak and slender, For warmth towards the April sun, One after one.

And between shower and s.h.i.+ne hath birth The rainbow's evanescent glory; Heaven's light that breaks on mist of earth!

Frail symbol of our human story, It flowers through showers where, looming h.o.a.ry, The rain-clouds flash with April mirth, Like Life on earth.

Mathilde Blind [1841-1896]

TO THE RAINBOW

Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky When storms prepare to part, I ask not proud Philosophy To teach me what thou art;--

Still seem; as to my childhood's sight, A midway station given For happy spirits to alight Betwixt the earth and heaven.

Can all that Optics teach unfold Thy form to please me so, As when I dreamt of gems and gold Hid in thy radiant bow?

When Science from Creation's face Enchantment's veil withdraws, What lovely visions yield their place To cold material laws!

And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams, But words of the Most High, Have told why first thy robe of beams Was woven in the sky.

When o'er the green, undeluged earth Heaven's covenant thou didst s.h.i.+ne, How came the world's gray fathers forth To watch thy sacred sign!

And when its yellow l.u.s.ter smiled O'er mountains yet untrod, Each mother held aloft her child To bless the bow of G.o.d.

Methinks, thy jubilee to keep, The first-made anthem rang On earth, delivered from the deep, And the first poet sang.

Nor ever shall the Muse's eye Unraptured greet thy beam; Theme of primeval prophecy, Be still the prophet's theme!

The earth to thee her incense yields, The lark thy welcome sings, When, glittering in the freshened fields, The snowy mushroom springs.

<script>