While in dark eddies, as the whirlwind past,
The straw and stubble flew before the blast.
Column on column prest in close array,
Dark tempests thicken o’er the watery way.
Heaven poured in torrents, rushes on the plain,
And with wide deluge sweeps the floating grain;
The dikes o’erflow, the flooded channels roar,
Vexed ocean’s foaming billows rock the shore:
The Thunderer, thron’d in clouds, with darkness crown’d,
Bares his red arm, and flashes lightnings round.