A Sudden Shower

Barefooted boys scud up the street Or skurry under sheltering sheds; And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet, Gleam from the shawls about their heads. Doors bang; and mother-voices call From alien homes; and rusty gates Are slammed; and high above it all, The thunder grim reverberates. And then, abrupt,--the rain! the rain!-- The earth lies gasping; and the eyes Behind the streaming window-pane Smile at the trouble of the skies. The highway smokes; sharp echoes ring; The cattle bawl and cowbells clank; And into town comes galloping The farmer's horse, with streaming flank. The swallow dips beneath the eaves, And flirts his plumes and folds his wings; And under the catawba leaves The caterpillar curls and clings. The bumble-bee is pelted down The wet stem of the hollyhock; And sullenly, in spattered brown, The cricket leaps the garden walk. Within, the baby claps his hands And crows with rapture strange and vague; Without, beneath the rosebush stands A dripping rooster on one leg.