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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

I. “Storm had been on the hills”

Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867)

STORM had been on the hills: the day had worn

As if a sleep upon the hours had crept;

And the dark clouds that gathered at the morn

In dull, impenetrable masses slept,

And the wet leaves hung droopingly, and all

Was like the mournful aspect of a pall.

Suddenly, on the horizon’s edge, a blue

And delicate line, as of a pencil, lay,

And, as it wider and intenser grew,

The darkness removed silently away;

And, with the splendor of a god, broke through

The perfect glory of departing day:

So, when his stormy pilgrimage is o’er,

Will light upon the dying Christian pour.