Storm

On the day I tell you of there was no sun,

Or if there was, some strange malignant wing

Eclipsed its brightness-and the hour grew one

With all dark hazard. Swift and menacing,

The whirling sky at the high tide of day

Patterned the twilight. Birds sought friendly eaves.

Even the laughing children left their play

At the shrill tumult of the stricken leaves.

The storm's bewildering breath pommeled the grass

One wild and gusty moment. The fierce wind

Rattled the roof, the fence, the casement glass,

The twisted trees, until their boughs were thinned.

The dust suffused the air as with a stain-

Then came the thunder and the sheeted rain.