Whose thunders are heard in valleys

Where imploring faces blanch;

The mouth of a raging Etna

With its stifling breath of fire,

Wherein the pride of a city

In a moment may expire;

The trembling of the mountains

When an earthquake passes by,

And the terror of the people

Struck dumb in their agony;

[Pg 38]

The rage of a foaming torrent,

After the bursting cloud

Has poured its liquid fury

In destruction wild and loud;

Are but the potent protests

Of Nature's elements

Against some ill arrangement

That brings them discontents.

But these in separate actions,

 Prev. P 38/268 next