Michael Hogan:
Irish poet, born in New Road, Thomondgate in 1832. He gave himself the name “The Bard of Thomond”
Today, winter clouds gather in towers of white reaching toward the wide horizon. But the rain is far off and will not come today or even tomorrow when perhaps random drops will foreshadow the deluge of June.
The passage literally says:
– ‘Winter clouds pile up’ like white towers on the horizon.
– Yet there is ‘no rain yet’.
– Only later will a few scattered drops perhaps appear.
– Those drops then announce the great ‘rainy period of June’.
Figuratively, it means approximately:
> ‘Great changes often announce themselves early, but the actual event is yet to come.’
Or:
> ‘There are harbingers of something great — a turning point, crisis, eruption, or redemption — but the moment itself has not yet arrived.’
The tone is contemplative and expectant: clouds as promise, rain as delayed fulfillment. Possible origin 🌎:
The reference to the “June deluge” likely points to an area where the rainy season begins around June, for example:
– Mexico
– Central America
– parts of the southwestern United States
– tropical or subtropical highlands
In such areas, impressive clouds can appear as early as winter or spring, while the real rains do not arrive until months later.
Therefore, the text sounds more like a passage from an ‘essay, novel, travelogue, or poem’ than a folk saying.
Author: ✍️ There are multiple authors named Michael Hogan. The most likely, if this attribution is correct, is:
– Irish-American poet, writer, and historian
– long associated with Mexico
– known for literary work in which Mexico, landscape, history, and culture often play a role.
The imagery in the quote — winter clouds, broad horizon, June rains — fits well with a writer writing about Mexico or a similar climate. Without an original source citation, it is better to say:
> “Attributed to Michael Hogan.”
Words like “foretell”, “deluge”, and “white towers” give it a distinctly poetic-literary character.
