The Rain

I. The rain! the rain! the rain! It gushed from the skies and streamed Like awful tears; and the sick man thought How pitiful it seemed! And he turned his face away, And stared at the wall again, His hopes nigh dead and his heart worn out. O the rain! the rain! the rain! II. The rain! the rain! the rain! And the broad stream brimmed the shores; And ever the river crept over the reeds And the roots of the sycamores: A corpse swirled by in a drift Where the boat had snapt its chain-- And a hoarse-voiced mother shrieked and raved. O the rain! the rain! the rain! III. The rain! the rain! the rain!-- Pouring, with never a pause, Over the fields and the green byways-- How beautiful it was! And the new-made man and wife Stood at the window-pane Like two glad children kept from school.-- O the rain! the rain! the rain!