YCBA Collections Search

Lettered: "3 | II | O little Cloud the virgin said. I charge thee tell to me Why thou complainest not when in one hour thou fade away: Then we shall seek thee, but not find. Ah! Thel is like to thee: I pass away: yet I complain, and no one hears my voice. | The Cloud then shew'd his golden head and his bright form emerg'd, Hovering and glittering on the air before the face of Thel. | O virgin, know'st thou not our steeds drink of the golden springs Where Luvah doth renew his horses? Look'st thou on my youth, And fearest thou, because I vanish and am seen no more, Nothing remains? O maid, I tell thee, when I pass away It is to tenfold life, to love, to peace and raptures holy: Unseen descending, weigh my light wings upon balmy flowers, And court the fair-eyed dew to take me to her shining tent: The weeping virgin trembling kneels before the risen sun, Till we arise link'd in a golden band and never part, But walk united, bearing food to all our tender flowers. | Dost thou, O little Cloud? I fear that I am not like thee, For I walk thro' the vales of Har, and smell the sweetest flowers, But I feed not the little flowers; I hear the warbling birds, But I feed not the warbling birds; they fly and seek their food: But Thel delights in these no more, because I fade away; And all shall say, Without a use this shining woman liv'd, Or did she only live to be at death the food of worms | The Cloud reclind upon his airy throne and answer'd thus. | Then if thou art the food of worms, O virgin of the skies, How great thy use, how great thy blessing! Every thing that lives Lives not alone nor for itself. Fear not, and I will call The weak worm from its lowly bed, and thou shalt hear its voice, Come forth, worm of the silent valley, to thy pensive queen. | The helpless worm arose, and sat upon the Lily's leaf, And the bright Cloud saild on, to find his partner in the vale."