In Time of Silver Rain (1947)

Langston Hughes

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In time of silver rain
The earth
Puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
Of life, of life, of life!

In time of silver rain
The butterflies lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway passing boys
And girls go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
When spring
And life are new.

Image © Carl Van Vechten, photographer. [Public domain]

Poem © From Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (1994), published by Alfred A Knopf Inc. With permission from David Higham Associates Ltd.