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.

Text Authorship:

• by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Mutability", first published 1816 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Dorothy James (1901 - ?), "Mutability", 1967 [ women's chorus, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

• 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.
  • Go to the full setting text.
    

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Změna (Shelley 1)"
• RUS Russian (Русский) (Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont) , "Изменчивость"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-02-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 125