Contents
-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
III. The Seasons
Signs of Rain
Dr. Edward Jenner
Forty Reasons for Not Accepting an Invitation of a Friend to Make an Excursion with Him
1
THE HOLLOW winds begin to blow; 2 | The clouds look black, the glass is low, 3 | The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep, 4 | And spiders from their cobwebs peep. 5 | Last night the sun went pale to bed, 6 | The moon in halos hid her head; 7 | The boding shepherd heaves a sigh, 8 | For see, a rainbow spans the sky! 9 | The walls are damp, the ditches smell, 10 | Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel. 11 | Hark how the chairs and tables crack! 12 | Old Betty’s nerves are on the rack; 13 | Loud quacks the duck, the peacocks cry, 14 | The distant hills are seeming nigh. 15 | How restless are the snorting swine! 16 | The busy flies disturb the kine, 17 | Low o’er the grass the swallow wings, 18 | The cricket, too, how sharp he sings! 19 | Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws, 20 | Sits wiping o’er her whiskered jaws; 21 | Through the clear streams the fishes rise, 22 | And nimbly catch the incautious flies. 23 | The glow-worms, numerous and light, 24 | Illumed the dewy dell last night; 25 | At dusk the squalid toad was seen, 26 | Hopping and crawling o’er the green; 27 | The whirling dust the wind obeys, 28 | And in the rapid eddy plays; 29 | The frog has changed his yellow vest, 30 | And in a russet coat is dressed. 31 | Though June, the air is cold and still, 32 | The mellow blackbird’s voice is shrill; 33 | My dog, so altered in his taste, 34 | Quits mutton-bones on grass to feast; 35 | And see yon rooks, how odd their flight! 36 | They imitate the gliding kite, 37 | And seem precipitate to fall, 38 | As if they felt the piercing ball. 39 | ’T will surely rain; I see with sorrow, 40 | Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.
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