These are the Clouds

[IanEye]

[Burnt Hill]

Excellent Birds

Flying Birds.
Excellent Birds.
Watch them fly.
There they go.
Falling snow.
Excellent snow.
Here it comes.
Watch it fall.
Long words.
Excellent words.
I can hear them now.
This is the picture.
I'm sitting by the window.
Watching the snow fall.
I'm looking out.
And I'm moving.
Turning in time.
Jump up!
And I can land on my feet.
Look out!
This is the picture.
This is the picture.
This is the picture.
This is the picture.
Looking out.
I'm watching now.
But when I see the future, I close my eyes.
I can see it now.
I see pictures of people rising up.
I see pictures of people falling down.
I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads.
They're ready!
I see pictures of people rising up.
I see pictures of people falling down.
I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads.
They're ready!
They're looking out.
Look out!
They're watching out.
Watch out!
They're looking out.
Look out!
They're watching out.
Watching watching out.
I see pictures of people.
I see pictures of people.
They're watching.
They're watching out.
Watch out.
I see pictures of people.
They're watching.
They're watching out.
I see pictures of people.
Watching.
Watch out.
They're watching.
I see pictures of people.
Watching out.
Watch out.
Pictures of people.
They're watching out.

Songwriters
ANDERSON, LAURIE/GABRIEL, PETER

[dada]

a faerie once spoke to me in cloud of incense misty form
and I remember a black rose rain that syncopated rhythms
on our umbrellas in a dream thunderstorm

then that time we watched a cloud-shaped dragon drift by
while floating in the ivy sea, we all agreed it was a dragon
with the ivy moon for an eye

and those clouds that force a smile even when they're tired
they tried to organize a cloud union and were disappeared
killed or even worse: fired

The cloud that rained bells, the sparkle-curse cloud that surrounded us in space
There was even a land where I saw people proudly wearing the clouds of others
what a funny little place

Shelly clouds of Silverstein, Ezra clouds of Pound
classy clouds with proven pedigrees that look good on paper
but they're just hand-me-downs

I'll take a new cloud anyday, one just condensed tonight
worth more than a dozen of the other kind, doesn't matter
who wrote it, or if the meter isn't right

I wonder if they don't know how to brew pumpkin cloud stew
or do they keep their own clouds hidden away like they're ashamed
what a strange thing to do

don't get me wrong, wearing clouds of others can be fine, I've worn some myself
memorized the terrain of whole cloud continents with cumulous peaks piled high
It's the cloudy atmosphere that makes me shake my head and laugh

But I would like to take my bow and bag of tricks and go
to rescue all the locked up clouds that no one wants to show
I can see them now the poor things, cold and lonely, crying snow

[Blue]

This is the first image ever taken from the surface of Mars of an overcast sky. Featured are stratus clouds coming from the northeast at about
15 miles per hour (6.7 meters/second) at an approximate height of ten miles (16 kilometers) above the surface. The "you are here" notation marks where
Earth was situated in the sky at the time the image was taken. Scientists had hoped to see Earth in this image, but the cloudy conditions prevented a clear viewing.
Similar images will be taken in the future with the hope of capturing a view of Earth. From Mars, Earth would appear as a tiny blue dot similar to how a star would
appear to an earthbound observer. Pathfinders' imaging system will not be able to resolve Earths' moon. The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust
particles suspended in the atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire regions, but have not yet been observed to cover
the entire planet. The image was taken about an hour and forty minutes before sunrise by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 16 at about ten degrees up
from the eastern Martian horizon.



This is the first color image ever taken from the surface of Mars of an overcast sky. Featured are pink stratus clouds coming from the northeast at about
15 miles per hour (6.7 meters/second) at an appoximate height of ten miles (16 kilometers) above the surface.

[Burnt Hill]

[Cordelia]

[Burnt Hill]

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

[Burnt Hill]

"The Colony Of Slippermen"


[THE ARRIVAL]

[Rael:]
I wandered lonely as a cloud,
Till I came upon this dirty street.
I've never seen a stranger crowd;
Slubberdegullions on a squeaky feet,

Continually pacing,
With nonchalant embracing,
Each orifice disgracing
And one facing me moves to say "hellay".

His skin's all covered in slimy lumps.
With lips that slide across each chin.
His twisted limbs like rubber stamps
Are waved in welcome say 'Please join in.'

My grip must be flipping,
Cos his handshake keeps slipping,
My hopes keep on dipping
And his lips keep on smiling all the time.

[Slipperman:]
"We like you, have tasted love.
Don't be alarmed at what you see,
You yourself are just the same
As what you see in me."

[Rael:]
Me, like you? like that!

[Slipperman:]
"You better watch it son, your sentence has only just begun
You better run and join your brother John."

[A VISIT TO THE DOKTOR]

[Slipperman:]
"You're in the colony of slippermen.
There's no who? why? what? or when?

You get out if you've got the gripe
To see, Doktor Dyper, reformed sniper-
he'll whip off your windscreenwiper

[Rael:]
John and I are able
To face the Doktor and his marble table.

[The Doktor:]
Understand Rael, it's the end of your tail.

[Rael:]
"Don't delay, dock the dick!"
I watch his countdown timer tick......

[THE RAVEN]

He places the number into a tube,
A yellow plastic "shoobedoobe".
It says: "Though your fingers may tickle
You'll be safe in our pickle."
Suddenly, black cloud comes down from the sky.
It's a supersize black bird that sure can fly.

The raven brings on darkness and night
He flies right down, gives me one hell of a fright.
He takes the tube right out of my hands
Man, I've got to find out where that black bird lands.

"Look here John, I've got to run
I need you now, you going to come?"
He says to me.

[John:]
"Now can't you see
Where the raven flies there's jeopardy.

We've been cured on the couch
Now you're sick with your grouch.
I'll not risk my honey pouch
Which my slouch will wear slung very low."

[Rael:]
He walks away and leaves me once again.
Even though I never learn,
I'd hoped he'd show just some concern.

I'm in agony of Slipperpain
I pray my undercarriage will sustain.
The chase is on, the pace is hot
But I'm running so very hard with everything I've got.
He leads me down an underpass
Though it narrows, he still flies very fast,
When the tunnel stops
I catch sight of the tube, just as it drops.
I'm on top of a bank, to steep to climb,
I see it hit the water, just in time,
to watch it float away.

Writer(s): Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Michael Rutherford, Anthony Banks

[Cordelia]

Shall Gods Be Said To Thump The Clouds

Shall gods be said to thump the clouds
When clouds are cursed by thunder,
Be said to weep when weather howls?
Shall rainbows be their tunics' colour?

When it is rain where are the gods?
Shall it be said they sprinkle water
From garden cans, or free the floods?

Shall it be said that, venuswise,
An old god's dugs are pressed and pricked,
The wet night scolds me like a nurse?

It shall be said that gods are stone.
Shall a dropped stone drum on the ground,
Flung gravel chime? Let the stones speak
With tongues that talk all tongues.

~ Dylan Thomas ~



Friend, my enemy, I call you out. You, you, you there with a bad thorn in your side. You there, my friend, with a winning air. Who pawned the lie on me when he looked brassly at my shyest secret. With my whole heart under your hammer. That though I loved him for his faults as much as for his good. My friend were an enemy upon stilts with his head in a cunning cloud.

~ Dylan Thomas ~

[Burnt Hill]

[Cordelia]

A Walk in the River

A few companions had been doing too much talking beside the purple water. The troupe, panic-stricken, ran away, and I found I was incapable of following them. I stepped into the water and the depths turned luminous; faraway ferns could just be seen. The reflections of other dark plants stopped them rising to the surface. Red threads took on all sorts of shapes, caught in the invisible and doubtless powerful currents. A plaster-cast woman advancing caused me to make a gesture which was to take me far.

~ René Magritte ~

[Burnt Hill]

Dali - At The Age Of Six When He Thought He Was A Girl Lifting The Skin Of The Water To See The Dog Sleeping In The Shade Of The Sea

[Burnt Hill]

... this is where Cordelia lives.

[Cordelia]

^^^
Where she'll retire to dine after a ride in the forest.

[Burnt Hill]