The Cloud Appreciation Society » From Jacqueline Mai.

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From Jacqueline Mai.

Lonely as a cloud…?

Wandering lonely as a cloud is a concept devised by man
For him to muse upon in his own lonely state…down ‘there’.
Whilst - ‘up here’ - I’m never lonely.
OK, there might be some big gaps occasionally
But I can see a long way,
And I could always budge along a bit faster
If necessary
To join another cloud or two.
Today, I’m drifting rather fast inland,
Well, racing towards the sunrise actually,
Blown eastwards from the ocean.
I’ll sidle back there this evening
As the night clouds threaten to chase me
Back to sea.
They are very possessive about their personal space
These night clouds.
They are not averse to dressing themselves
In dark colours - especially early -
To make those poor earthbound humans
Rush to get their washing in,
Or put their lights on much too early.
‘Where has the light gone?’
‘Is it going to rain?’
They will exclaim,
Scurrying about like ants
Into their square nests,
As the night clouds roll ever onwards.
They are the ‘Business’ these night clouds,
Dragging their blanket over the earth
So that everything can sleep.
Me? – I rush back out to sea
And scuttle to the other side of the ocean
If I’ve a mind to.
The horizon gets pretty full by evening.
Loads of newly hatched clouds
Bobbing about, bumping into each other.
Young really, that’s their problem.
Still, they learn pretty quickly.
I’ve watched lots of them
Grow up into huge storm clouds.
Not fat clouds you understand,
There’s no obesity in cloud world,
But there are some very, very huge ones.
They have a lot of responsibilities too.
Mind you, it wouldn’t suit me,
I’m getting on a bit now,
Becoming a shadow of my former self.
So, I like to take it easy nowadays.
A bit of scurrying and racing
From time to time
And meeting up with a few other old codgers.
Sometimes we have a good laugh
And do imitations of things we’ve seen
And the others have to guess what it is.
A giant with his mouth open, yawning,
A flying saucer,
A pig with six legs…
Well, you know the kind of thing.
It amuses the younger clouds
And it lets us off the serious weather stuff.
Me and a few of the others
Are off up the coast tonight
To watch a film.
They’ve got this big screen thing
On the beach
For holidaymakers.
I’m not too bothered about
Who’s acting in it
But I do like to catch sight
Of clouds that I know.
Some of them are very famous
In cloud circles.
I’ve even been a cloud extra
In one or two films myself!
I was that wispy cloud
Floating past in
‘Master and Commander’.
Did you see it?
Perhaps not.
You were probably looking
At the vast ocean
And musing on
How lonely a cloud’s life is.

©Jacqueline Mai April 2007

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From Jacqueline Mai.