The vivid lightning takes its errant way,
While echoing, ’mid the sparkling balls of hail,
Is heard the sound of its descending feet
In thunder. The hail drops fearfully around,
Strips the stout trees, and beats to earth the grain,
Wounds man and beast amid the open fields,
And strikes with deadly blow the wild fowl down.
Flash after flash lights up the dreaded scene,
And answering thunder speaks from every cloud;
While the deep caverns of the ocean swell