Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/The Story of a Storm

by Sarah Piatt

THE STORY OF A STORM. [TOLD BY A LITTLE BOY WHO HAD HEARD "STORIES FROM HOMER."]

"Things floated away and the day turned dark
 And papa he wasn't at home, you know;
And we didn't have any dove or ark,
 Nor mountain where we could go,
Like they used to have, one other year,—
That time when the other flood was here.

"Then, the wind kept blowing the oak-tree down,
 (The Lord didn't know about the nest!)
And I thought this world was going to drown.
 ———Did Louis tell you the rest?
Well, if he didn't—well then—well,
I think—Somebody will have to tell.

"Now, this was the way: One other night
 (I wish that Louis had told you then)
When the moon was red—why, we had a fight
 About one of Homer's men.
(That is the reason we didn't speak.)
He said that Hector wasn't a Greek!

"But I thought it wouldn't do to die
 And not say even one single word
To Louis before I went to the sky,—
 So I told him about the bird,
And the other birds out there in the nest
That their mother hadn't even dressed!

"If it hadn't been for the rain, you see,
 We never could have been friends again.
And, who would I have to play with me—
 If it hadn't been for the rain?
And Louis said he was glad to speak,
For he thought that Hector wasn't a Greek!"