Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

The THUNDER STORM.

See how yon shining cloud presents his head,
Soft and serene, from zephyrs' aff'ret bed!
See! it absorbs the sun's collected rays,
And tip'd with silver, every charm displays,
With western breezes swell'd, it softly moves,
And smiling, peeps thro' yon delightful groves.
But by degrees emerging from the West,
Above the hills appears his broader crest.
The scene is chang'd and its delusive form,
Now scowls with the dark prelude of a storm!
In trembling gleams the sudden light appears,
And growling thunder rumbles in our ears.
But now, majestic, see the tempest rise,
Pregnant with sulphur, to the middle skies!
The shatter'd clouds now yield their humid store,
And a thick deluge from their bosoms pour.
The winds now rage, the forked lightning plays,
Flash after flash, in one continued blaze!
The deep-mouth'd thunder now, in awful peals,
Bursts o'er our heads, and every heart conceals!
With anxious fear each rolls his wishful eyes,
While Heaven's artillery rends the vaulted skies!
All nature seems in dark confusion hurl'd,
Like the last struggles of a bursting world!
Flashes, groans, thunder, screech'es, winds and rain,
In black confusion swell the dreadful scene!
But see! the bellowing tempest passes by;
The thunder rattles in the Eastern sky:
The tempest now alarms our fears no more,
But tir'd with raging gives his fury o'er:
The western clouds no more seclude our eyes,
From the soft beauties of th'op'ning skies.
The sun unveil'd, restores the cheerful day,
And his enliv'ning beams their charms display:
He looks serene across the wide expanse,
And smiling sees contending meteors dance;
Lights up the peaceful bow in all her charms,
And o'er the East he spreads his circling arms;
Sweetly assuring us the storm is o'er:
Nor more to tremble at the Thunder's pow'r.