<h2><SPAN name="RAIN_IN_THE_WOODS" id="RAIN_IN_THE_WOODS"></SPAN>RAIN IN THE WOODS</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When on the leaves the rain persists,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">And every gust brings showers down;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When all the woodland smokes with mists,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">I take the old road out of town<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Into the hills through which it twists.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I find the vale where catnip grows,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Where boneset blooms, with moisture bowed;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The vale through which the red creek flows,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Turbid with hill-washed clay, and loud<br/></span>
<span class="i0">As some wild horn a hunter blows.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Around the root the beetle glides,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">A living beryl; and the ant,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Large, agate-red, a garnet, slides<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Beneath the rock; and every plant<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Is roof for some frail thing that hides.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Like knots against the trunks of trees<br/></span>
<span class="i1">The lichen-colored moths are pressed;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And, wedged in hollow blooms, the bees<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Seem clots of pollen; in its nest<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The wasp has crawled and lies at ease.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The locust harsh, that sharply saws<br/></span>
<span class="i1">The silence of the summer noon;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The katydid that thinly draws<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Its fine file o'er the bars of moon;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And grasshopper that drills each pause:<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</SPAN></span>
<span class="i0">The mantis, long-clawed, furtive, lean—<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Fierce feline of the insect hordes—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And dragonfly, gauze-winged and green,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Beneath the wild-grape's leaves and gourd's,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Have housed themselves and rest unseen.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The butterfly and forest-bird<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Are huddled on the same gnarled bough,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">From which, like some rain-voweled word<br/></span>
<span class="i1">That dampness hoarsely utters now,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The tree-toad's voice is vaguely heard.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I crouch and listen; and again<br/></span>
<span class="i1">The woods are filled with phantom forms—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">With shapes, grotesque in mystic train,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">That rise and reach to me cool arms<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Of mist; the wandering wraiths of rain.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I see them come; fantastic, fair;<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Chill, mushroom-colored: sky and earth<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Grow ghostly with their floating hair<br/></span>
<span class="i1">And trailing limbs, that have their birth<br/></span>
<span class="i0">In wetness—fungi of the air.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">O wraiths of rain! O ghosts of mist!<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Still fold me, hold me, and pursue!<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Still let my lips by yours be kissed!<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Still draw me with your hands of dew<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Unto the tryst, the dripping tryst.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</SPAN></span></p>
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