Winds
Winds! winged ministers of the Mighty God!
Potent to do His will—chainless and free,
Sweeping in conscious pride o’er earth and sea,
Where is the hiding of your power? Abroad
Ye rush on sounding pinions, and the tall
Magnificence of temples totters down
Before your path, as stricken by the frown
Of the AVENGER! O’er the sky, a pall
Of gloomy clouds ye hang—or dash to dust
The high-piled monuments of man’s vain trust,
O’erwhelming cot and palace, tent and tower.
Ye Winds! where is the hiding of your power?
“God sent us forth to work his righteous will,
And God alone can bid us, ‘Peace! be still!’”
- Title
- Winds
- First Line
- Winds! winged ministers of the Mighty God!
- Creator
-
William Henry Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- The Amaranth 4:9 (November 14, 1835)
- Burleigh, William Henry, Poems. Philadelphia: J. Miller M'Kim; Pittsburgh: Ingram and M'Candless; New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1841, 221.
- Date
- 1835
- Period
- Early
- Subject
- Nature
- Religion
- Apostrophe
- Sonnet
- Weather: Wind
- Comments
- Biblical Epigram (John 3:8): "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."
- Published under V.G. Allyn pseudonym in The Amaranth
- Titled "Sonnet" in The Amaranth
- Well-formed, and with a rare (and effective) use of repetition.
- Rating
- ★★★★
- Media
-
Winds