All day long the sky was cloudless, Life was waiting for a breath, And the heat was more oppressive Than the fear of sudden death;
All day long the sun was shining In a hot and windless sky, And the trees were weak for water — Earth and air were dead and dry.
But e'er Night her wings had folded Came a welcome western breeze, Moving idly through the forest, Prophesying to the trees,
Till above that dim horizon Giant clouds like warring foes Marshalled far in battle numbers As the wild winds wilder rose.
Hark! O hear the double rumble As the thunder shakes the air, Like a thousand hoofs advancing In yon cloudy corral there!—
Look!— how red the lightning flashes! How the echoes roll and roll — Dirges from some demon goddess — How the bells of heaven toll!
Like a lance, a flash of lightning Cuts the foremost cloud in twain And the thunder's mighty echo Rolls athwart the drenching rain
Till the landscape fades like shadows In the driving sheets of spray, And the wind wails through the forest, And the great trees rock and sway.
Soon the air is strangely solemn And the winds no longer blow To the thunder's distant drumming In the valley far below;
And along the low horizon All the clouds are growing dim, While upon the western hilltops Rolls again the sun's red rim.
And away across the valley In the heavens arching high, Like a bed for fairy flowers Swings the rainbow in the sky —
Swings until the shadows gather And the sun sinks out of sight, Seemingly to whisper softly To the world a fond good night.
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