Clouds that veil the midnight moon

Set by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Clouds that veil the midnight moon", published 1971 [ SSA chorus and piano ], stanza 1 of "Mutability" is followed by a stanza by the composer.  [sung text not yet checked]

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We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
Streaking the darkness radiantly! -- yet soon
Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings 
Give various response to each varying blast,
To whose frail frame no second motion brings
One mood or modulation like the last.

We rest. -- A dream has power to poison sleep;
We rise. -- One wandering thought pollutes the day; 
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:

It is the same! -- For, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free:
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; 
Nought may endure but Mutability.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Author(s): (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)