Poems (Scudder)/Rain in an English Garden
RAIN IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN
From shaken boughs of myrtle and of box
Drop topaz, jacinth, peridot enough
To pay an elf-king's ransom. Hollyhocks
Each in deep-flouncing silks with pleated ruff
Bend in the courtly fashion of old beaux
And toss their diamonds of blinding sheen
In the gold-lily's lap. The damask rose
Droops jewel-fettered like a captive queen.
Faint promise of the sun seems everywhere,
Delicate rainbows flash—and perched aloft
The quivering phlox that butterfly again
To spread his drenched and tattered wings would dare—
When, eerie-wild and mischievous and soft,
The rush and teasing laughter of the rain.
Drop topaz, jacinth, peridot enough
To pay an elf-king's ransom. Hollyhocks
Each in deep-flouncing silks with pleated ruff
Bend in the courtly fashion of old beaux
And toss their diamonds of blinding sheen
In the gold-lily's lap. The damask rose
Droops jewel-fettered like a captive queen.
Faint promise of the sun seems everywhere,
Delicate rainbows flash—and perched aloft
The quivering phlox that butterfly again
To spread his drenched and tattered wings would dare—
When, eerie-wild and mischievous and soft,
The rush and teasing laughter of the rain.