The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-05-10
A RAIN DREAM.
Bx WIN. CULLEN BRYANT.


These strifss, these ,umus of tho noisy
world, aets ,f. lseo. g ytiBs
Where Fraud, the coward, tracks bis prey by
stealth,
And Strength, the ruffiau, glories IN his guilt,
Cypress the heaa.wilh sadness. Oh, my
friend, a,s- f..ssisas .af. a
In what serener mood wa look upon
The gloomiest aspects of the ele menis
Among the woods aud fields Let us awhile,
AS The slow wind is rolling up the storm,
Ia fancy leave this maze of dusty streets.
For ever shaken by the Imporunate jar
Of commerce, and upon The dark ening air
Look from the shelter of our rural home.
Who is not awed that listens 10 the rain
Sending his voice before him Mighty rain !
The upland sleeps are shrouded by their
misls;
The wales are gloomy with thy shade; the
pnuls Ill
No longer glmmer, and The silvery streams
Darken to veins oil lead at thy approach.
Oh, mighty Ram already thou art here;
Aud every roof Is beaten by sIieams,
And as thou passelh, every CLASSY spring ss
Grows rough, and every leaf III all tue woods
Is struck and quivers. All The hiH-iops slake
Their thirst for thee; a thousand languishing
fields, .is,- - .tart
A thousand faintng gardens are re'reshed
A thousand idle rivuleIs start TO speed,
Aud when The grayer murnur OF the storm
Blend their light voices, as they hurry on
Thou fill st the circle oil the atmosphere
Alone: there is no living thing abroad,
No bird 10 wirg the air, nor beast 10 walk
The field; the squirrel IN the forest seeks
His hollow tree the marmo OF the field
Has scampered 10 his den; the buuelhy
Hides uader her broad leaf; the insect crowds
That made tha sunshine populous, lie close
la cir mysterious she tiers, whence the sun
will summon them again. The mighy Rain
Holds the vast empire OF The sky alone.
shut my eyes, aud see, as in a dream,
The friendly clowds drop. down spring violets
And summer columbnes, aud ak the flowers
That luit the woodland floor, 10 overarch
The slreamlet .-spiky grass for genial June,
Brown hafves;s for the waiting husbandman,
Aud for The woods deluse OF fresh leaves.
see these myriad drops that slake the dust,
Gathered in glorious streams, or rolling blue
In pillows OH the lake or on the deep,
Aud bearing navies. behold them change
To threads Of cry slal as they sink in earth,
And leave its stains behind, to rise again
In pleasaut nooks oil verdure, where the'child,
Thirsty with play. in both his little hands
Shall lake the cold clear water, raising it
To wei his pretty lips. To-mofrow noon
How proudly will The water.lIly ride
The brimming pool o'erlooking, like aqueen,
Her circle Of broad leaves. In lonely wastes,
When next the sunshine makes them beauti-
iul,
Gay troops Of butterflies shall light 10 drink
Al the replenished hollows of the rock.
Now slowly falls the dull blauk night, and
still,
All through the slarless hours, the mighty
Rain
Smites with perpetual sound the forest leaves,
And beats lbe matted grass, and stll the
earth
Drinks the uustined bounty Of the clouds,
Drinks Tor her cottage wells, her woodland
brooks, ..-.I
Drinks for the sprinsing trout, the toiling bee
And brooding bird, drinks for her tender
flowers,
Tall oaks, and all the herbage Of the hills.
A melancholy sound is in The air,
A deep sigh in the distance, a shrill wall
Around my dwelling. 'Tis The wind of night;
A lonely wandeTer between earth and cloud,
10 black the shadow of the chilly mist,
Along the streaming mountain size, and
through ,...-Y
The dripping woods. and o'ef the plashy
fields,
Roaming and sorrowing still, like one who
makes uo r.
The journey Of life alone, and nowhere meets
A welcome or friend, and still goes on
In darkness. Yet awhile, little while,
And ne shall toss the glit,erng leaves in play.
And daily with The flowers, aud gaily lit
The slender herbs, pressed low by weight of
rain,
And drive, in joyous triumph, through the
sky,
White clouds, the lsggari remnants of the
storm, nrN 1str0l . '4 rstE.