Mellifluous Mondays: The Gather'd Storm

"The keener Tempests come: and fuming dun
From all the livid East, or piercing North,
Thick Clouds ascend; in whose capacious Womb
A vapoury Deluge lies, to Snow congeal'd.
Heavy they roll their fleecy World along;
And the Sky saddens with the gather'd Storm.
Thro the hush'd Air the whitening Shower descends,
At first thin-wavering; till at last the Flakes
Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the Day,
With a continual Flow. The cherish'd Fields
Put on their Winter-Robe, of purest White.
'Tis Brightness all; save where the new Snow melts,
Along the mazy Current. Low, the Woods
Bow their hoar Head; and, ere the languid Sun
Faint from the West emits his Evening-Ray,
Earth's universal Face, deep-hid, and chill,
Is one wild dazzling Waste, that buries wide
The Works of Man."
-from Winter by James Thomson

Yep. It's snowing in Hillsdale! Winter has officially begun (even though Thanksgiving hasn't even passed yet). And now we all have to pull our snowboots out of the closet, wrap ourselves in wool and feathers, and brave "the keener Tempests" as we tramp off to class. This should be fun.