The Storm

All day long the sky was cloudless,

Life was waiting for a breath,

And the heat was more oppressive

Than the fear of sudden death;

All day long the sun was shining

In a hot and windless sky,

And the trees were weak for water —

Earth and air were dead and dry.

But e'er Night her wings had folded

Came a welcome western breeze,

Moving idly through the forest,

Prophesying to the trees,

Till above that dim horizon

Giant clouds like warring foes

Marshalled far in battle numbers

As the wild winds wilder rose.

Hark! O hear the double rumble

As the thunder shakes the air,

Like a thousand hoofs advancing

In yon cloudy corral there!—

Look!— how red the lightning flashes!

How the echoes roll and roll —

Dirges from some demon goddess —

How the bells of heaven toll!

Like a lance, a flash of lightning

Cuts the foremost cloud in twain

And the thunder's mighty echo

Rolls athwart the drenching rain

Till the landscape fades like shadows

In the driving sheets of spray,

And the wind wails through the forest,

And the great trees rock and sway.

Soon the air is strangely solemn

And the winds no longer blow

To the thunder's distant drumming

In the valley far below;

And along the low horizon

All the clouds are growing dim,

While upon the western hilltops

Rolls again the sun's red rim.

And away across the valley

In the heavens arching high,

Like a bed for fairy flowers

Swings the rainbow in the sky —

Swings until the shadows gather

And the sun sinks out of sight,

Seemingly to whisper softly

To the world a fond good night.