Mud
After the rain, the soft, incessant rain,
The squash, the squelch, the clog, the quag, the wallow,
The slithery, sly insistence of the drain,
The earth agape to slobber and to swallow,
The days and days of dripping, drooping, drivelling;
After the rain, the hydroptic earth is sweeter,
To sniff, to smell, to touch, to feel, to frivol in,
Sweeter than ever, cleverer and neater;
After the rain, my cats are out at last,
High stepping, curiously fastidious.
Froglets erupt from primal ooze – aghast,
(What’s this? Good Heavens! Horrible! Poor us!),
Cats clatter in, and, till the weather clears,
Sleep furiously, tight-curled, with pointy ears.
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