THE CLOUD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 November 1938, Page 12

THE CLOUD

Ju.sl as you often think how grand the clouds are as they sail across the 1 Sky, so did Shelley, the great English poet, and the poem he wrote about them became one of his most famous. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews . that waken The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast As she dances about the sun. j I wield the flail of the lasting hail. | And whiten the green plains under; j And then again I dissolve it in rain, j And laugh as I pass in Thunder. ! Then the cloud goes on to say : 1 I bind the sun’s throne with a burning zone. And the moon’s with a girdle of pearls; The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl. From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea, Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof, j The mountains its columns be. ! The triumphal arch through which 1 march j With hurricane, fire and snow, I When the powers of the air are chained | to my chair, 1 Is the million-coloured bow; j The sphere-fire above its soft colours j While the moist earth was laughing below.