XVII.

"It is one of the secrets of Nature in its mood of mockery that 

fine weather lays heavier weight on the mind and hearts of the 

depressed and the inwardly tormented than does a really bad day 

with dark rain sniveling continuously and sympathetically from 

a dirty sky."  ~Muriel Spark

"Suddenly all the sky is hid

As with the shutting of a lid,

One by one great drops are falling

Doubtful and slow,

Down the pane they are crookedly crawling,

And the wind breathes low;

Slowly the circles widen on the river,

Widen and mingle, one and all;

Here and there the slenderer flowers shiver,

Struck by an icy rain-drop’s fall."

~James Russell Lowell, "Summer Storm," 1839