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Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1519 Before the Rain

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By AmélieTroubetzkoy

1519 Before the Rain

THE BLACKCAPS pipe among the reeds,

And there ’ll be rain to follow;

There is a murmur as of wind

In every coign and hollow;

The wrens do chatter of their fears

While swinging on the barley-ears.

Come, hurry, while there yet is time,

Pull up thy scarlet bonnet.

Now, sweetheart, as my love is thine,

There is a drop upon it.

So trip it ere the storm-hag weird

Doth pluck the barley by the beard!

Lo! not a whit too soon we’re housed;

The storm-witch yells above us;

The branches rapping on the panes

Seem not in truth to love us.

And look where through the clover bush

The nimble-footed rain doth rush!