PART I. THE GALE

_Allegro furioso._

Pale green-white, in a gallop across the sky, The clouds retreating from a perilous affray Carry the moon with them, a heavy sack of gold; Sharp arrows, stars between them shoot and play.

The wind, as it strikes the sand, Clutches with rigid hands And tears from them Thin ribbons of pallid sleet, Long stinging hissing drift, Which it trails up inland.

I lean against the bitter wind: My body plunges like a ship. Out there I see grey breakers rise, Their ravelled beards are white, And foam is in their eyes. My heart is blown from me to-night To be transfixed by all the stars.

Steadily the wind Rages up the shore: In the trees it roars and battles, With rattling drums And heavy spears, Towards the housefronts on it comes.

The village, a loose mass outflung, Breaks its path. Between the walls It bounces, tosses in its wrath. It is broken, it is lost.

With green-grey eyes, With whirling arms, With clashing feet, With bellowing lungs, Pale green-white in a gallop across the sky, The wind comes.

The great gale of the winter flings himself flat upon earth.

He hurriedly scribbles on the sand His transient tragic destiny.