The Summer Shower.

The eve is still and silent and above the tinted plain     The passing clouds are driving gentle showers of summer rain,     And the scent of hay-strewn meadows and the fresh-besprinkled ground     Is mingling with the perfume of the flowers that bloom around.     Off I wander and I stroke the gleeful spaniel at my side,     And, delighted with each other, do we ramble far and wide,     While a ditty is the tribute to the joy that gives it birth,     And the leaves, refreshed, are pouring their cool nectar to the earth.     Oh let me gaze again upon the moisture-laden sky,     Let me see the rolling masses, let me hear the plover's cry,     While enveloping the distant mountain-summits like a shroud,     Like a head bent down and hoary, hangs a heavy wreath of cloud.     Let me gaze upon the sunshine as it breaks upon the mist,     As it bathes the stony mountains that the clouds have lately kissed,     As it tips the dripping leaflet with a scintillating gem,     Like the far-resplendent treasure in a monarch's diadem.     Let me tread the shining pasture-lands, the greenest of the green,     Let me quaff the luscious perfume of the smiling, glistering scene,     While beautified and golden stands the ripe and waving grain,     And all Nature sings for gladness now that sunshine follows rain.