The speaker watches a rain shower unfold, starting with isolated drops on an apple tree and roof. As the rain intensifies, it’s personified: drops kiss eaves, gables laugh. Some drops run off to join the brook and ultimately the sea. The speaker playfully imagines the glistening drops as pearls, wondering what necklace they could form.
After the shower, dust settles, birds sing more joyfully, sunlight bursts out as if tossing aside a hat, and wet bushes fling off spangles. The breezes seem to take up sad lutes and bathe them in happiness. Then the eastern sky shows a single flag—perhaps a rainbow—and the brief festival is signed away: the rain ends like a party over. The mood is one of delighted observation, turning a common shower into a playful, sparkling celebration. The speaker’s tone is childlike wonder and intimacy with nature, where every element joins in the joy.