…and as the drenching downpour faded into barely-more-than mist, the clouds began to let shine through a springtime sun—and though still gray the sky (if mottled, now and then, with blue), the leavèd trees all round flamed brighter in their verdancy than any I have ever seen…

The first line would be set on the ragged right edge of the text to mark its rhythmic position, were that possible.