A Sudden Shower

Barefooted boys scud up the street      Or skurry under sheltering sheds;     And schoolgirl 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 cowbells clank;     And into town comes galloping      The farmer's horse, with streaming 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 bumble-bee 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 rosebush stands      A dripping rooster on one leg.