Thus the angels drape God's footstool with soft vapor, wind, and sun: Does His smile rest on the artists when their pleasant work is done? Do they see Him bend the Heavens, riding swiftly on the clouds, Heat His Heart, and Light the shadow which His inner Glory shrouds? Seraphs, cherubs, thronging round Him, shall our hearts no raptures move? Shall we prove dull links reluctant in the chain of endless love? No. We feel the electric secret flashing through the Perfect Whole, 'Bliss eternal' telegraphing upon every faithful soul. * * * * * _CUMULI._ Leave we now the upper regions With their wonders pure and high, Gone the barred and fleecy Cirri-- Mountain Cumuli storm the sky. High the calmness floats above us, Tears and rain lie far below, As we sail the middle Cloudland, Where the vapors come and go. Throbs a wilder pulse of passion, Stronger individual life, Rapid, energetic motion Tells of elemental strife. Nearer seem they to the human, Rearing dizzy forms on high, Than the order-loving Cirri Barring the translucent sky. Lovingly they crest our mountains, Hovering o'er them all the day, Copying all the soaring outlines In artistic, skilful play; Following close on the horizon, Dip, break, gap, and lofty peak, As to build Earth into Heaven Would the haunting vapors seek. Drifting swiftly through the azure, Chase they shadows over Earth: Flying footsteps, soft and silent, Flit o'er grassy graves in mirth. Shudder not--the bearded harvest Quivers not, so light the tread: Let it glide o'er moss and violet-- Would its touch could wake our dead! Piling now, the tossing vapors, With a wild exultant power, Rise in turrets, towers, mountains, Changing with the changing hour. Glittering, gleaming, dazzling, snowy, Heart-tossed shadows in them lie; Broken, scattered, wind-torn, foamy, Haunt they through Earth's panting sky. Luminous jets of boiling vapor Topple into sudden rifts, Open into yawning chasms, Break in tortured whirling drifts, Panting, surging, rocking, reeling, Cradling in their hearts the storm, Spirit, power, passion flashing, Lightning bares each secret form. Banding now in groups colossal, Piling o'er the mountain crest, Sweeping down his rocky summit, Crashing through his wooded breast, Shattering fall his pines and larches, Rain, hail, tumult onward swell, Lightning scathes the shuddering forest, Thunder frights the leafy dell. Sunset fires the whirling vapors, Now they sway and rock in light, Toppling crests fling back the radiance, Through the rifts it glitters bright, Gloomy clouds are ruby kindling, Rippling fringed with molten gold, Rosy streams of color pouring, Through the tempest's blackness rolled.