Sara Teasdale’s “Summer Storm” turns a thunderstorm into something almost animal: the wind is a panther leaping, lightning a twisting white snake, thunder a roaring lion. The speaker and a companion sit under a tree, not hiding from the show but watching it, calm and content. What would normally be frightening becomes background, even thrilling, because they are together. The closing lines explain their peace: they have already faced fate, love, and pain side by side. After that, the “wrath of the rain” is nothing to fear. The mood is both wild and intimate—the storm is loud and dramatic, but the couple’s stillness is stronger. It’s a short, quiet statement of trust: having endured harder things together, they can meet any outer disturbance with calm.
Summer Storm — Summary
The panther wind Leaps out of the night, The snake of lightning Is twisting and white, The lion of thunder Roars--and we Sit still and content Under a tree-- We have met fate together And love and pain, Why should we fear The wrath of the rain!