After The Rain

　

she dreamed of simple things not beyond her means

to frolic amidst the dust of tranquility

a tug at her heart would light the inner spark of what she neded to know

　

She leaned upon her balcony, in the darkness,

Folding her hands beneath her chin;

And watched the lamps begin

Here and there to pierce like eyes the darkness,--

From windows, luminous rooms,

And from the damp dark street

Between the moving branches, and the leaves with rain still sweet.

It was strange: the leaves thus seen,

With the lamplight's cold bright glare thrown up among them,--

The restless maple leaves,

Twinkling their myriad shadows beneath the eaves,--

Were lovelier, almost, than with sunlight on them,

So bright they were with young translucent green;

Were lovelier, almost, than with moonlight on them. . . .

And looking so wistfully across the city,

With such a young, and wise, and infinite pity

For the girl who had no lover

To walk with her along a street like this,

With slow steps in the rain, both aching for a kiss,--

It seemed as if all evenings were the same,

As if all evenings came

With just such tragic peacefulness as this;

With just such hint of loneliness or pain,

The quiet after rain.

her pulse was rushing as she looked towards nature's magnificience

at last she made it through onto so much more