 | Dirge for Aoine and other poems |  |
xxxiii
A THUNDERSTORM
The sea is full, and over-full;
The waves are edged with foam like wool:
Does Proteus shear his flocks to-night?
It seems so thick with fleeces white.
The waves are edged with foam like wool:
Does Proteus shear his flocks to-night?
It seems so thick with fleeces white.
The sky is like a copper shield,
Brought broken from a battle-field;
Between its rents the lightnings leap,
Tryst with the meeting clouds to keep.
Brought broken from a battle-field;
Between its rents the lightnings leap,
Tryst with the meeting clouds to keep.
The wind cries like a child to-night:
Its breath has turned the poplars white;
The ivy shudders on the wall,
And petals of red lilies fall.
Its breath has turned the poplars white;
The ivy shudders on the wall,
And petals of red lilies fall.
A moment, and the world is dumb:
The moment ere the thunders come.
The earth holds breath 'twixt fear and pain,
Then, childlike, floods her fear with rain.
The moment ere the thunders come.
The earth holds breath 'twixt fear and pain,
Then, childlike, floods her fear with rain.
| Dirge for Aoine and other poems | |