Page:Oriental Sketches Dramatic Sketches and Tales.pdf/53

And a thick darkness falls, and blinding dust,
Till suddenly in one tempestuous gust
The whirl-wind bursts—drowning the stunning sound
Of pealing thunder crashing all around.
Unheeded mid the horrid dissonance
And smothering sand, the forked lightnings dance;
Yet the storm gathers strength, and each wild blast
Seems armed with fiercer madness than the last.
And still the raging elements contend;
And urges on the strife the tempest fiend,
Deepening the gloom, and yelling o'er the fanes
Where whirl-winds roar, and chaos madly reigns;
At length the darkness yields; an awful ray,
Of fiery light denotes returning day.
And now in flashing torrents o'er the plain
Descends like cataracts the tropic rain;
The air is cooled, by gentle breezes fanned—
The dust disperses, and a zephyr bland,
Where late the tempest raged, with wooing breath
Draws perfume from each freshly flowering wreath;