Were I a cloud I'd gather
My skirts up in the air,
And fly well know whither,
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Were I a cloud I'd gather
My skirts up in the air,
And fly well know whither,
And rest I well know where.

Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

So when the sun in bed,
Curtain'd with cloudy red,
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.

So when the sun in bed,
Curtain'd with cloudy red,
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light read more

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.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

The clouds,--the only birds that never sleep.

The clouds,--the only birds that never sleep.

If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way
No rain, be sure, disturbs the summer's day.

If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way
No rain, be sure, disturbs the summer's day.

By unseen hand uplifted in the light
Of sunset, yonder solitary cloud
Floats, with its white apparel read more

By unseen hand uplifted in the light
Of sunset, yonder solitary cloud
Floats, with its white apparel blown abroad,
And wafted up to heaven.

There does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam read more

There does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it
Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it
Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.