ALL spring the rain came down amain, and rills grew into rivers; the
bullfrogs croaked that they were soaked till mildewed were their livers.
The fish were drowned, and in a swound reclined the muskrat’s daughter,
and e’en the snakes, in swamps and brakes, hissed forth “There’s too
much water!” And all my greens, the peas and beans, that I with toil had
planted, a sickly host, gave up the ghost, the while I raved and ranted.
The dew of doom hit spuds in bloom, and slew the tender onion; I viewed
the wreck, and said, “By heck!” and other things from Bunyan. All greens
of worth drooped to the earth, and died and went to thunder; but useless
weeds all went to seeds—no rain could keep them under. When weather’s
dry, and in the sky a red-hot sun is burning, it gets the goats of corn
and oats, the wheat to wastage turning; the carrots shrink, and on the
blink you see the parsnips lying, but weeds still thrive and keep alive,
while useful things are dying. It’s strange and sad that critters bad,
both veg’table and human, hang on so tight, while critters bright must
perish when they’re bloomin’!
------------------------------------------------------------------------