Peals

Clouds the darkened heavens have drowned, / and snatched the daylight from the Trojans' eyes. / Black night broods on the waters; all around / from pole to pole the rattling peals resound / and frequent flashes light the lurid air. / All nature, big with instant ruin, frowned / destruction.

Meanwhile a mingled murmur through the street / rolls onward – wails of anguish, shrieks of fear –, / and though my father's mansion stood secrete, / embowered in foliage, nearer and more near / peals the dire clang of arms, and loud and clear, / borne on fierce echoes that in tumult blend, / war-shout and wail come thickening on the ear.

While we were adjusting the lens a kookaburra somewhere out of sight burst into his peals of derisive laughter; the shrill chorus of unseen frogs, an ever-present accompaniment to the stillness of the Australian country, was the only other sound.