| |
| BUT when fierce August suns, careering high, | |
| Gaze hot and silent from the brazen sky; | |
| When bird and beast forsake the open glade, | |
| And pant all mute within the sultry shade; | |
| When not a breath doth stir the lightest leaf, | 5 |
| And springs and brooks dried up deny relief; | |
| While Nature lies exhausted in the throes | |
| Of parching thirst, the sharpest of her woes; | |
| Then, lo! a small dark cloud, all fringed with red, | |
| Above th’ horizon lifts its liquid head; | 10 |
| Surveys the scene, and larger grows to view, | |
| While all the legions of the storm pursue. | |
| The muttering thunder with unceasing din | |
| Proclaims the strife of elements within; | |
| And lurid flashes flood the murky clouds, | 15 |
| As faster on they follow, crowds on crowds. | |
| |
| Eclipsed the sun, his fires at once allayed, | |
| Falls o’er the quaking earth a dreadful shade; | |
| A thousand birds aloft in terror rise | |
| And seek the safest haunts, with piercing cries; | 20 |
| The leaves, they tremble in the breathless woods, | |
| And sighing trees confess th’ approaching floods. | |
| At once, ’mid clouds of dust and flying leaves, | |
| The whirlwind sweeps aloft the scattered sheaves; | |
| Sharp lightning rends the black and marble skies, | 25 |
| And thousand-voiced the pealing thunder flies. | |
| The shattered boughs upon the tempest ride, | |
| And rocking forests groan from side to side; | |
| While cataracts of rain in deluge pour, | |
| And sweep the smoking land with ceaseless roar. | 30 |
| |
| The wild tornado passes, and the sun | |
| With golden rays peeps through the clouds of dun. | |
| Green Nature glistens, and the piping bird | |
| Within the dripping grove is fluttering heard; | |
| While down the streaming gullies, furrowed wide, | 35 |
| The rushing waters pour on every side, | |
| And earth refreshed emerges from the storm | |
| With smiling face and renovated form. | |
| |
