Thunderstorm

 We had a thunderstorm last night where there was very little thunder but the lightning was almost continuous, centred in different places, flickering on and off above the clouds and once in a while sending a bolt down to strike the hills. I stood at the window in the baby's room and watched it. I enjoy a good thunderstorm.

But this one cost us sleep- and I'm feeling the effects of that this morning....

My favourite description of a thunderstorm is from Browning's The Ring and the Book. It goes like this...

I stood in Naples once, a night so dark
I could have scarce conjectured there was earth
Anywhere, sky or sea or world at all:
But the night's black was burst through by a blaze-
Thunder struck blow on blow, earth groaned and bore,
Through her whole length of mountain visible:
There lay the city thick and plain with spires,
And, like a ghost disshrouded, white the sea....

I took my complete Browning, Volume II down from the shelf and it fell open at this very passage: that's how much I love it.....