The Storm-Child Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

The Storm-Child
The storm-child ah! she wandereth
Alone
Alone
Along the dark wood she wandereth


And the thunder lights above
With iron fist and clapping
And the rains downpour full
And the leaves drip
The leaves of the wild wood


But, yet, the Storm-Child
Goes
Goes on her way and
Wandereth:
Over the muddy ground
She wandereth:


The storm and tempest
Come and go:
And the Storm-Child
The child of the big eyes
That are as lakes
Ah! the Storm Child wandereth


But this tempest will not go
Nor will this chill go
Nor the frost gelid go
And the trees startle with
The drippings of the icicles
But, yet,
The Storm-Child goes
On and on she goes
She wandereth


I too, we too, my friend
As the Storm-Child we wander:
And I too, we too, my friend
Are in the eye of storms and
Tempests every day:
All time
All place
And yet, and but,
As the Storm-Child on and on and on
we wander.


Ah! let the tempests and the storms
Roar
They will not stop to-day
To-night
Yet, but the Storm-Child still
Wandereth:
And the Dawn though it be risen
It be grey and dark and bleak
And mute of bird songs and of
Sounds
And yet the Storm-Child
Wandereth


One time, one day,
Persistence pays,
Patience pays,
For
Then the Dawn
Will not be as the Dawns
That went before:
And the Storm-Child will lay
Herself out of her will
Amidst the leaves and
Move not
And the birds and the wood-animals
The plants
Will cluster round
Round the Storm-Child that
She wandereth


One time, one day,
Persistence pays,
Patience pays,
For
Then the Dawn
Will not be as the Dawns
That went before:
And I and you
As the Storm-Child will lay
Ourselves out of our will
Amidst the leaves and
Move not
And the birds and the wood-animals
The plants
Will cluster round
Round me, round you
As the Storm-Child that
She wandereth