Classic Poem

Shattered silver the rain is falling
Over the drowned moon in the sea;
The muffled horns of the rain are calling
Reluctantly.

Snuffed are the candles in the houses;
The wet birds ruffle close together;
A lank mare, unremembered, drowses
Drenched at her tether.

Roads are rutted and old wagons
Lumber and lunge on sunken stones;
The rain at a thousand gusty flagons
Gurgles and groans.

The reef whitens its chain of rock
Under the downpour's hammering;
Clouds encounter, and the shock
Sets them stammering.

Shattered silver the rain is falling
Over the drowned moon in the sea;
The muffled horns of the rain are calling