 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
152
THE TEMPEST
Like soldiers, silent in the last redoubt,
The wildwoods waited as the storm drew out
Its cloudy cohorts with a mighty shout.
The wildwoods waited as the storm drew out
Its cloudy cohorts with a mighty shout.
As men, who face destruction, overhead
I heard wild voices of the rain that said,—
“It is the forest-people! Strike them dead!”
I heard wild voices of the rain that said,—
“It is the forest-people! Strike them dead!”
Then followed tossings of tempestuous hair,
And movements of huge bodies everywhere,
And protestations, as of wild despair.
And movements of huge bodies everywhere,
And protestations, as of wild despair.
A moment's silence; then upon the world,
The charioteers of Tempest,—Winds,—were hurled,
And Thunder's bellowing banner blew unfurled.
The charioteers of Tempest,—Winds,—were hurled,
And Thunder's bellowing banner blew unfurled.
An oak, the tower of two centuries,
Set its gigantic shoulders to the breeze,
And roared down, ruining, on enormous knees.
Set its gigantic shoulders to the breeze,
And roared down, ruining, on enormous knees.
153
Then overhead terrific trumpets blared:
The sky swooped downward with a sword that glared,
And the long ranks of rain rushed, hurricane-haired,
Charging the world with spears that nothing spared.
The sky swooped downward with a sword that glared,
And the long ranks of rain rushed, hurricane-haired,
Charging the world with spears that nothing spared.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |