The Clouds

How beautiful the clouds, The morning's purple clouds; How sweet they calm reposing lie In yonder deep blue azure sky, Streaked with crimson pale and red, Fair as violets in their bed; Gliding, floating, moving ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

How beautiful the clouds, The noontide's burning clouds; Mountains of pure white driven snow, In upper regions on they go; Pillars of ever living light, Piles of crystal gems as bright, Gliding, moving, hurrying ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

How beautiful the clouds, The dark and rolling clouds; With tempest, storm, and fury crowned, Where lightnings fiercely play around; Terrific, grand, sublime, they rise When pealing thunders rend the skies; Whirling, heaving, rolling ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

How beautiful the clouds, The golden sunset clouds; Tinged with yellow, mellow light, Warm, rich hues that gladden sight; As sinks the wave in ocean's breast, So fades the many-colored west; Fading, passing, gliding ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

How beautiful the clouds, The evening, moonlit clouds; On tireless wings of snowy hue They move through heaven's ethereal blue; Like fairy forms of crystal light, Arrayed in robes of silver white; Gliding, floating, moving ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

And in our weary march, The whirling, passing clouds Are emblems of life's hurried way, Swift passing down its fleeting day; In smiles and tears the restless mind Is ever seeking—ne'er to find— A resting place—but hurrying ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

Youth's hopes, oh! what are they, But clouds of changing hue; Sometimes they're tinged with golden light, Beaming with softening beauty bright; Like clouds they fade, they pass, they die, And leave no trace upon the sky; Fleeting, fading, passing ever Onward, onward, stopping never.

I'd be, when life shall wane, Like white-winged clouds of even; Through fields of endless day I'd roam, And find me there a starry home; Beyond this world, far, far, away, To Heaven's own light I'd wing my way; Through realms of bliss there roaming ever Onward, onward, stopping never.