New Deluge
Old mariners marveled
at the main above them;
Seasoned sailors stared
at the skies beneath them.
The hyaline rose
To heights unrecorded;
the main descended
in a mighty crash.
The green ground groaned
as if the globe were ruptured;
the oceans roared
from their innermost depths.
The flowing winds shrieked
with the fury of a cyclone;
A dazzling radiance
dimmed the stars.
One instant, the ocean
seemed emptied of its waters,
Then flooded in the next
with a foaming surge.
Foam and froth
filled the vales;
The mere overbore
the mountaintops.
It washed the valleys
from West to East;
It soaked the summits
from South to North:
Spilling, rushing,
splashing, gushing,
Until creeks were o’erborne
and continents buried.
The flow filled the valleys
and flooded the rain-clouds
Clearer than crystal,
it closed every crevasse;
As mighty as Fate,
it mounted to Heaven.
The mere had o’ertaken
the Mane of the Field;
The land was concealed
by the Lord of the Rivers.
The Waverer filled
with a watery scent;
Fresh was the whistler
with fumes of the froth.
One looked in vain
for the land all around;
One sought without hope
for a sight of the shore.