Rain and Roses

<h2><SPAN name="IN_OUR_OLD_STREET" id="IN_OUR_OLD_STREET"></SPAN>In Our Old Street</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="ig"><span class="letra">W</span>E children played in a queer old street<br/></span> <span class="ih">That persistently seemed to hide,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Itself and us in a kindly way<br/></span> <span class="i2">From the great wide world outside.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And how we loved in our childishness<br/></span> <span class="i2">God’s work on the sea and land.<br/></span> <span class="i0">But death was secretive, dark and deep,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And never showed us his hand.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">With awe we gazed on his work, sad work<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the flutter of ribbons white,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Made us all catch hands, hold our breath and sob<br/></span> <span class="i2">In our restless dreams at night.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">When a baby came to our queer old street<br/></span> <span class="i2">So downy and vague and new,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We tiptoed out of the soft, dark room,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the mystery grew and grew.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But many things we have learned since then<br/></span> <span class="i2">For life has a strange sad way,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</SPAN></span><br/></span> <span class="i0">We left the hills and the queer old street<br/></span> <span class="i2">Where we used to shout and play.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">One of the things we have learned is this:<br/></span> <span class="i2">Tho’ death rides around rough shod,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Back of our births and our deaths and our loves<br/></span> <span class="i2">Is the all-kind heart of GOD.<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</SPAN></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />