Brontë or Bell, 3

We can't leave Anne out, so here's a short piece of hers about the natural world. Anne had more of a religious bent than her sisters so many of her poems address the Almighty. This one is a brief lyric of more general appeal, I think.

Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day

My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring,

And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze;

For, above, and around me, the wild wind is roaring

Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas.

The long withered grass in the sunshine is glancing,

The bare trees are tossing their branches on high;

The dead leaves beneath them are merrily dancing,

The white clouds are scudding across the blue sky.

I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing

The foam of its billows to whirlwinds of spray,

I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing

And hear the wild roar of their thunder today!

~Anne Brontë / Acton Bell