The Storm-Dragon

Witter Bynner

A water-snake, trailing the lily-bulbs,
Or a rattler slowly scaling Tunapec-
But where was the winged serpent all this while?-
Had he coiled his spirit away on pyramids?
With the oxen and burros, we hid our frightened eyes-
We had seen him coming through a gap of hills,
Throwing a horseman down, overturning a boat,
His horizontal plumage stiff with rain.
He huddled us aside out of his way,
He breathed on us, he drowned us with his breath,
He burned our eyes with his, he clapped his wings
Over our heads. Longer than a mountain,
He passed and passed, miles of him in the wind.
And afterwards the dragging of his tail
Had slashed the roadway to a yellow froth
And spun the meadows whirling at their trees.