Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | II. Light: Day: Night | | Summer Rain | | Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) |
| | | THICK lay the dust, uncomfortably white, | |
| In glaring mimicry of Arab sand. | |
| The woods and mountains slept in hazy light; | |
| The meadows looked athirst and tawny tanned; | |
| The little rills had left their channels bare, | 5 |
| With scarce a pool to witness what they were; | |
| And the shrunk river gleamed ’mid oozy stones, | |
| That stared like any famished giant’s bones. | |
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| Sudden the hills grew black, and hot as stove | |
| The air beneath; it was a toil to be. | 10 |
| There was a growling as of angry Jove, | |
| Provoked by Juno’s prying jealousy— | |
| A flash—a crash—the firmament was split, | |
| And down it came in drops—the smallest fit | |
| To drown a bee in fox-glove bell concealed; | 15 |
| Joy filled the brook, and comfort cheered the field. | | | | |
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