Page:The Bengali Book of English Verse.djvu/36

4 Reft of her beauties green, fair Nature quakes Affrighted; and upon the plain are strewed Leaves, arms, and trunks of many a giant tree Felled by their wrath.

But soon unto the clouds, Which darkly frown upon the earth, as though In hate and envy, fly the tempest fiends; And there, bound by some unknown, powerful charm, They roar as if once more they would descend And sweep the world before their furious course Blasting the fairest scenes of Nature fair With demon strength and hate.

The ruthless storm Is past. Cloud upon cloud is piled along The darksome brow of yonder skies, enshrouding The face of the bright Sun, who o'er the earth High on his throne of ether, erst did reign In splendour cloudless, dazzling, yet serene. The gathering darkness deepens round; as if The spell of awe hath bound the face of heaven— The spell which but the poet's gifted eye Can trace; and but his flexile heart can feel Attracted.

Now the floods of heaven unsealed At once burst forth in torrents, deluging The shrinking earth: and as the clouds become Dispersed and thinner by the wandering breeze, The glories of the broad, meridian Sun Descend and sparkle. But the firmament Still pours its genial springs of crystal rain, Which, brightened by the solar beams, appear Like showers of liquid radiance falling down, A blessed gift to Man from favouring heaven. The little shrubs, which ere long drooped beneath