Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/93

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A Song of Rain


Because a little vagrant wind veered south from China Sea;
Or else, because a sun-spot stirred; and yet again, maybe
Because some idle god in play breathed on an errant cloud,
The heads of twice two million folk in gratitude are bowed.

                 Patter, patter . . . Boolcoomatta,
                 Adelaide and Oodnadatta,
                 Pepegoona, parched and dry
                 Laugh beneath a dripping sky.
                 Riverina's thirsting plain
                 Knows the benison of rain.
                 Ararat and Arkaroola
                 Render thanks with Tantanoola
                 For the blessings they are gaining,
                 And it's raining—raining—raining!

Because a heaven-sent monsoon the mists before it drove;
Because things happened in the moon; or else, because High Jove,
Unbending, played at waterman to please a laughing boy,
The hearts through all a continent are raised in grateful joy.