It Was All for Him + 

I strolled upon the Brooklyn Bridge one day, + 

Beneath the storm; + 

None but a lad in rags upon the way + 

I saw;⁠—there on a bench he lay + 

Heedless of form. + 

He seemingly was reading what the Shower + 

Was publishing upon the Bridge and down the Bay; + 

Yet he was writing, writing at this hour⁠— + 

Writing in a careless sort of way. + 

Upon a pad he scribbled and as fast the rain + 

Retouched, effaced, corrected and revised. + 

Was he recording Nature’s solemn strain, + 

Or sketching choristers therein disguised? + 

Whatever it be, I found myself quite by his side; + 

My nod and smile he pocketed and wrote again; + 

“Read me your drizzling stuff,” I said, and he replied: + 

“I’ve written a check in payment for this shower of rain.” + 