A CLOUD, like that the old-time Hebrew saw On Carmel prophesying rain, began To lift itself o'er wooded Cardigan, Growing and blackening. Suddenly, a flaw Of chill wind menaced; then a strong blast beat Down the long valley's murmuring pines, and woke The noon-dream of the sleeping lake, and broke Its smooth steel mirror at the mountains' feet. Thunderous and vast, a fire-veined darkness swept Over the rough pine-bearded Asquam range; A wraith of tempest, wonderful and strange. From peak to peak the cloudy giant stepped. One moment, as if challenging the storm, Chocorua's tall, defiant sentinel Looked from his watch-tower; then the shadow fell, And the wild rain-drift blotted out his form. And over all the still unhidden sun, Weaving its light through slantblown veils of rain, Smiled on the trouble, as hope smiles on pain; And, when the tumult and the strife were done, With one foot on the lake, and one on land, Framing within his crescent's tinted streak A far-off picture of the Melvin peak, Spent broken clouds the rainbow's angel spanned. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOROUGH: LETTER 22. POOR OF THE BOROUGH. PETER GRIMES by GEORGE CRABBE EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: BOMBER IN LONDON by RUDYARD KIPLING A RECIPE FOR SALAD by SYDNEY SMITH THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR by ALFRED TENNYSON LITTLE BILLEE by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY EN PASSANT by EDITH COURTENAY BABBITT REBECCA; WHO SLAMMED DOORS FOR FUN AND PERISHED MISERABLY by HILAIRE BELLOC |