 | Poems: Second Series |  |
108
IN NIDDERDALE.
Grey ragged clouds were scudding o'er the sky
Before the breath of the autumnal blast,
That raved and roared and rustled stormily
Through the dark-tufted fir trees as it passed.
Before the breath of the autumnal blast,
That raved and roared and rustled stormily
Through the dark-tufted fir trees as it passed.
The congregated mists, that blurred from sight
The outlines of the dim-discovered hills,
Had poured their flooding torrents all the night,
And fed the fountains of the moorland rills.
The outlines of the dim-discovered hills,
Had poured their flooding torrents all the night,
And fed the fountains of the moorland rills.
And now unnumbered brooks were rushing down,
Each from the heather of its upland home,
To swell the river's brimming waves of brown,
That whirled along in eddies flecked with foam.
Each from the heather of its upland home,
To swell the river's brimming waves of brown,
That whirled along in eddies flecked with foam.
Over the whirlpools of the river hung
The mourning robes of an autumnal wood,
And every gust, that swept the branches, flung
Red leaves and golden on the eddying flood.
The mourning robes of an autumnal wood,
And every gust, that swept the branches, flung
Red leaves and golden on the eddying flood.
109
Rose strangled murmurs from the stream below:
Darkness and tears and sighs were everywhere:
The wind breathed of immedicable woe,
And all things told of ruin and despair.
Darkness and tears and sighs were everywhere:
The wind breathed of immedicable woe,
And all things told of ruin and despair.
But lo! a momentary gleam of day
Touched into showers of light the distant rain:
And in that moment Nature seemed to say
‘Courage awhile—I triumph in my pain.’
Touched into showers of light the distant rain:
And in that moment Nature seemed to say
‘Courage awhile—I triumph in my pain.’
| Poems: Second Series | |