TONE COLOR
Use the imagination to see and hear. Suit the voice to the sound, form or movement of your image, or to the mood of mind indicated. Read with melody and pause. Take plenty of time.
1
There's a lurid light | in the clouds to-night,
In the wind | there's a desolate moan,
And the rage of the furious sea | is white,
Where it breaks | on the crags of stone.
2
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride | comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper, | o'er the sea,
Off shot | the specter-bark.
3
Is this a time to be gloomy and sad;
When our mother Nature | laughs around;
When even the deep blue heavens | look glad,
And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?
4
The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
That dandelions | are blossoming near,
That maize | has sprouted, that streams | are flowing,
That the river is bluer | than the sky,
That the robin | is plastering his nest | hard by;
And if the breeze kept the good news back,
For other couriers | we should not lack;
We could guess it all | by yon heifer's | lowing,—
And hark! how clear | bold chanticleer,
Warmed | by the new wine | of the year,
Tells all | by his lusty | crowing!