Portent

So wailed Creusa, and in wild despair / filled all the palace with her sobs and cries, / when lo! a portent, wondrous to declare. / For while, 'twixt sorrowing parents' hands and eyes, / stood young Iulus, wildered with surprise, / up from the summit of his fair, young head / a tuft was seen of flickering flame to rise. / Gently and harmless to the touch it spread / around his tender brows, and on his temples fed.

Thither I drew, and strove with eager hold / a green-leaved sapling from the soil to tear, / to shade with boughs the altars, when behold / a portent, weird to see and wondrous to unfold!

Somehow the silent snow, the waning traffic, the oncoming twilight, combined into a sense of ominous portent.

It was a portent of things to come.

a howl of dire portent