“In Time of Drought” is an Australian poem written by Mary Hannay Foott (1846-1918).

The rushes are black by the river bed,
And the sheep and the cattle stand
Wistful-eyed, where the waters were –
In a waste of gravel and sand;

Or pass o’er their dying and dead to slake
Their thirst at the slimy pool.
Shall they pine and perish in pangs of drought,
While Thy river, O God, is full!

The fields are furrowed, the seed is sown,
But no dews from the heavens are shed;
And where shall the grain for the harvest be?
And how shall the poor be fed?

In waterless gullies they winnow the earth,
New-turned by the miner’s tool’
And the wayfarer faints ‘neath his lightened load –
Yet the river of God is full

About the Author

See our page on Mary Hannay Foott. Includes a linked list of all her writing available on our website.