THE RAIN MAN.
RAIN-MAN, Rain-man, come today,
Shower the meadows fresh and gay;
Give sweet grass to cow and calf,
Wake the rose and make it laugh.
Dance and fall from out the sky,
Fill our cistern long since dry;
Foam the brook up to the brim,
Swell the pool where ducklings swim.
Wash the strawberries in their bed,
Make them ripe and round and red;
Wash the cherries 'math the eaves,
Blushing under thick green leaves.
Lay the dust upon the street,
Send up odors clean and sweet
From the earth and new-mown grass,
When the little breezes pass.
Send the doves, that love not rain,
Trooping to their cote again;
But the sparrows chatter more
When you beat upon their door.
Steal into the robin's nest,
Make the nestlings seek her breast;
Make the chickens run and hide
'Neath the mother-wings so wide.
Rain-man, 'neath your cloudy hat,
Come and clatter, pat, pat, pat;
O'er the roofs, and chimneys, too,
Let us hear your tramping shoe.
Put you cloak on, Goodman Gray,
Come and visit us today;
Pour your buckets down the sky;
When you're through, we'll shout: "Good-by!"
—Augusta Larned, in St. Nikholas.