Mary Effie Lee Newsome watches the sky and sees clouds turning into familiar shapes: a white mountain, a soft polar bear, little flocks of sheep. The speaker finds this playful, but also a little sad. Just as each picture forms, it breaks apart—the mountain shreds like floss, the bears melt, the sheep scatter. New shapes soon drift in, but they too seem to want something they cannot have. The bears want to reach cold polar country, the mountains want to stand firm, and the sheep want to pause and graze in the sky. Their constant trying gives the poem a gentle, wistful mood. It feels calm and dreamy, like lying back and daydreaming, while also touching on how quickly beautiful things change and disappear. The sky is lovely and full of movement, but nothing in it can stay.
Sky Pictures — Summary
Sometimes a right white mountain Or great soft polar bear, Or lazy little flocks of sheep Move on in the blue air. The mountains tear themselves like floss, The bears all melt away. The little sheep will drift apart In such a sudden way. And then new sheep and mountains come. New polar bears appear And roll and tumble on again Up in the skies so clear. The polar bears would like to get Where polar bears belong. The mountains try so hard to stand In one place firm and strong. The little sheep all want to stop And pasture in the sky, But never can these things be done, Although they try and try!