Stevenson’s poem follows a simple, repeated pattern—first the weather, then the girls’ routine—and in the last stanza quietly shifts from daily life to the end of life. The opening stanzas are bright and innocent: after rain, birds sing, and girls walk together in pairs, fresh as flowers. The mood is tender, almost like a nursery rhyme. When evening comes, they drift home one by one, a gentle hint of solitude. Then the final stanza turns the same structure toward a larger truth: just as day fades and they return to bed, so our lives draw to an evening, and we go “home to heaven, home at last.” The speaker’s feeling is calm and reassuring, not sad. The poem creates a lulling, meditative atmosphere, as if to say that earthly patterns are a quiet rehearsal for a peaceful homecoming.
When The Sun Come After Rain — Summary
WHEN the sun comes after rain And the bird is in the blue, The girls go down the lane Two by two.
When the sun comes after shadow And the singing of the showers, The girls go up the meadow, Fair as flowers.
When the eve comes dusky red And the moon succeeds the sun, The girls go home to bed One by one.
And when life draws to its even And the day of man is past, They shall all go home to heaven, Home at last.