I've Looked At Clouds

Clouds (Click picture for larger view)

High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
~ John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)

Rolling, billowy, wispy, threatening, dancing, boiling, powdery, fluffy, feathery, darkening, silver-lined, stormy, mysterious, broken, fleecy, floating, white, gray, black, sweeping, cottony; all descriptions of clouds, each bring a different picture to mind. As children we rested on the sun warmed ground, gazing up at the clouds and looked for faces, animals, mountains, any object we might fantasize. We've watched the storm clouds sweep across the plains of Oklahoma; billowing and dark with swirls and rotations of gray and green, watching the birth of tornadoes. Clouds evoke such a wide range of emotion; fear, dread, awe, delight and wonder. Powerful indeed, these collections of water vapor, these clouds.

Submission for LensDay topic "clouds". (end of post)