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Barefooted boys scud up the street Or skurry under sheltering sheds; And school-girl 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 cow-bells clank; And into town comes galloping The farmer's horse, with steaming 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 bumblebee 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 rose-bush stands A dripping rooster on one leg. |