The Squall / Leonora Speyer

The Squall  (1920)  by Leonora Speyer

from Poetry, July 1920

The Squall

Storm cloud over Ullswater, UK, 2009. Photo by K A. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Geograph.org.

It swoops gray-winged across the obliterated hills,
And the startled lake seems to run before it:
From the wood comes a clamor of leaves,
Tugging at the twigs,
Pouring from the branches,
And suddenly the birds are silent.
 
Thunder crumples the sky,
Lightning tears at it.
 
And now the rain —
The rain, thudding, implacable;
The wind, revelling in the confusion of great pines!
 
And a silver sifting of light,
A coolness:
A sense of summer anger passing,
Of summer gentleness creeping nearer —
Penitent, tearful,
Forgiven.
 

This poem is in the public domain