Oh, gray and tender is the rain,
That drips, drips on the pane!
A hundred things come in the door,
The scent of herbs, the thought of yore.
I see the pool out in the grass,
A bit of broken glass;
The red flags running wet and straight,
Down to the little flapping gate.
Lombardy poplars tall and three,
Across the road I see;
There is no loveliness so
As a tall poplar in the rain.
But oh, the hundred things and more,
That come in at the door! —The smack of mint, old joy, old pain,
Caught in the gray and tender rain.
