[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
In a Storm
It blows! It rains! It hails! And let it so!
The fire-tipped thunders roll across the sky!
And let them! Lovely Nature seems to die
Beneath a weight of overwhelming woe —
Her second self as sterner she doth grow!
And let the loveliness in Nature lie
O’erthrown! The howling gusts that whistle by,
The hail and rain that smite full many a blow,
The roaring thunder and the blinding flash,
The death of loveliness, the birth of bane,
All are but elements whose horrid crash,
So vivid and discordant, finds again
Its echo in my breast. Then, beat and smash,
Yea, even me, thou storm, and end my pain!
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 43
Editor’s notes:
bane = something which is the cause of continuous and significant annoyance, distress, troubles, unhappiness, worries; something which harms, ruins, spoils; (archaic) something which causes death, especially a fatal poison; a curse; poison; death; destruction; ruin; woe
doth = (archaic) does
o’erthrown = (archaic) overthrown
smite = strike, hit hard; attack; hurt; injure; kill
thou = (archaic) you
yea = yes; indeed; truly; an affirmation (especially an affirmative vote), an indication of assent
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