Day on day of crashing sunlight,
When the hammer-blows of heat,
The intolerable dazzle,
Blaze and blare of the sun
Are like the stubborn braying,
The arrogant braying,
The soul-destructive braying
Of instruments of brass.

Forgotten, long forgotten
Are the shining melodies,
The violin-melodies
Of lightly-falling rain;
Forgotten, long forgotten
Are the silvery ecstasies,
The flute-like ecstasies
Of softly flowing streams,
Of dream-entangled streams.

Shrill cornets screech,
Brazen saxophones blare,
Bray, blaze and blare
Discordant jazz-tunes,
Soul-racking and hideous,
An interminable fugue
Of blaze, dazzle and glare;
An intolerable Te Deum
Of soulless and senseless Drought—
Implacable Drought.