Classic Poem

H EIGH-HO ! the rain,
The wild, impetuous rain!
Hear how it raves at my window-pane!
Hurrying down with a mad commotion,
Mad as the din of a storm-lashed ocean, —
Sweeping the mountain, pelting the plain, —
Heigh-ho! the wild, impetuous rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The chiding, querulous rain!
Hear how it scolds at my window-pane!
See on the boughs that are well-nigh breaking,
Hundreds of leaves in their terror shaking;
Seeming to murmur this sad refrain, —
" Heigh-ho! the chiding, querulous rain. "

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The restless, tremulous rain!
Hear how it beats at my window-pane!
Beats like a heart by fear affrighted,
Beats like a heart with love delighted;
Half in gladness and half in pain, —
Heigh-ho! the restless, tremulous rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The pleading, pitiful rain!
Hear how it sighs at my window-pane!
Type of a breast that is full of sorrow,
Sighing for peace and a brighter morrow;
Sighs that are uttered too oft in vain, —
Heigh-ho! the pleading, pitiful rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The weary, desolate rain!
Hear how it sobs at my window-pane!
Sobs like a child that has lost its mother,
And never, never can find another
To love and cherish like her again!
Heigh-ho! the weary, desolate rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The dainty, delicate rain!
Hear how it taps at my window-pane!
Gratefully sweet, like Love's moist fingers
Laid on a brow where fever lingers,
Drip the cool sounds on my heated brain, —
Heigh-ho! the dainty, delicate rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The lovely, musical rain!
Hear how it chants at my window-pane!
Hushed is the tempest's petulant chiding,
Gently and gracefully now 't is gliding
Into a calm and beautiful strain, —
Heigh-ho! the lovely, musical rain!

Heigh-ho! the rain,
The fitful, vanishing rain!
Now it has ceased at my window-pane;
Through the torn edge of a cloud just parted,
See! one tremulous star has started;
Putting to silence my dull refrain, —
" Heigh-ho! the fitful, vanishing rain! "