WITHIN the pale blue haze above, Some pitchy shreds took size and form And, like a madman's wrath or love, From nothing rose a sudden storm. The blossom'd limes, which seem'd to exhale Her breath, were swept with one strong sweep, And up the dusty road the hail Came like a flock of hasty sheep, Driving me under a cottage-porch, Whence I could see the distant Spire, Which, in the darkness, seem'd a torch Touch'd with the sun's retreating fire. A voice, so sweet that even her voice, I thought, could scarcely be more sweet, As thus I stay'd against my choice, Did mine attracted hearing greet; And presently I turn'd my head Where the kind music seem'd to be, And where, to an old blind man, she read The words that teach the blind to see. She did not mark me; swift I went, Thro' the fierce shower's whistle and smoke, To her home, and thence her woman sent Back with umbrella, shoes and cloak. The storm soon pass'd; the sun's quick glare Lay quench'd in vapour fleecy, fray'd; And all the moist, delicious air Was fill'd with shine that cast no shade; And, when she came, forth the sun gleam'd, And clash'd the trembling Minster chimes; And the breath with which she thank'd me seem'd Brought thither from the blossom'd limes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A STRANGER IN SEYTHOPOLIS by KATHARINE LEE BATES UNCLE SIMON AND UNCLE JIM by CHARLES FARRAR BROWNE VERMONT 'TAVERN STANDS' by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY BOOKS & READING by JOHN JAY CHAPMAN THE UNNAMED WOMEN: 1 by ELIZABETH RUNDELL CHARLES MONODY ON THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON (SECOND VERSION) by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |