The wind began to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.
The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.
The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.
The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands
That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father's house,
Just quartering a tree.
by Emily Dickinson 1830-1886
The American lyric poet Emily Dickinson has featured before in The Naked Reader's Poem of the month - most recently in February 2007 - and is one of our favourite poets.
Images
On the Web
