[THE CUMULUS CLOUD.]
Mountains of heaven, in stainless white ye shine,
Islanded in calm of pearl- and sapphire-blue!
The pillared heights are lifted into view
In spectral power reposeful as divine.
A timeless peace abides in every line
Soft moulded from the quarries of the dew,
Yet fateful fire the inmost heart throbs through,
And thunder slumbers in the brows benign.
Paling before the massive whiteness there,
The faltering moon comes up the waiting night;
The faithful stars, like folded lilies, sleep
Till Love's wide wonder of the lullëd air
Melts with its rose-tipt crests in azure deep,
And sets the skyey plains abloom with light.
[SEA FOG.]
Here danced an hour ago a sapphire sea;
Now, airy nothingness, wan spaces vast,
Pale draperies of the formless fog o'ercast,
And wreathëd waters grey with mystery!
The ship glides like a phantom silently,
As screams the white-winged gull before the mast;
Weird elemental shapes go flitting past,
Which loom as giant ghosts above the quay.
The vapor lifts! Again the sea gleams bright;
The heavens have hid within their chambers far
Cloud-stuff of gossamer, from which are spun
To-morrow's skyey pomps inwove with light,
The belted splendors for the rising sun,
And rosy curtains for the evening star.