Like clouds our lives parade across a sky

A vibrant range of functions and forms

Fed by water

Feeding water in turn

In the depths of night and sunlight’s burn

Anchored only to the winds

While kissing the earth for as long as we might

Who knows how many shapes we may paint

And for how long

Before we dissipate

True, only temporary, but no less beautiful and no less great

Our lives are just clouds

Love it, enjoy it, appreciate it, admire it, embrace it –

as it moves across the canvas of the sky

Ours is just the fleeting forms

Ours is the when and where and how

Ours is the rapid succession of only just the now

Ours is not the why.


To my sister Colette – who always stood up for me when I was small, and who gave me my love for scary movies, and who awoke within me a sense of wonder.