Page:Poems of nature, Thoreau, 1895.djvu/89

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THE SUMMER RAIN
65

Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough,
What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town,
If juster battles are enacted now
Between the ants upon this hummock's crown?


Bid Homer wait till I the issue learn,
If red or black the gods will favor most,
Or yonder Ajax will the phalanx turn,
Struggling to heave some rock against the host.


Tell Shakespeare to attend some leisure hour,
For now I've business with this drop of dew,
And see you not, the clouds prepare a shower,—
I 'll meet him shortly when the sky is blue.


This bed of herdsgrass and wild oats was spread
Last year with nicer skill than monarchs use,