Summer Clouds
The boy gazed at the changing summer clouds,
Their form and fantasy like something dreamed;
One moment in a snow-capped mount they'd rise
With silver trees and icy steeps; he seemed
To feel the Arctic winds from that vast space
And wondered at the sun upon his face.
But, gazing still, he found the scene had changed;
An Oriental land, a narrow street
With domes and spires, a sky line yet unknown,
Was pictured there as by some magic feat;
The sound of the silver bells floated on high
And strangely mingled with the robin's cry.
Then suddenly the sky was clearer blue
And on its azure sea a barquentine,
With white sails curving to the breeze, swept down,
To carry him afar to lands unseen;