Clouds
“I bring fresh showers For the thirsting flowers
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade From the leaves when laid
In their noonday dream.”
This is Shelley in an emotional flush at the sight of the clouds, and how rhythmic and lovely, one wonders. The poet Kalidas was inspired to see the clouds borne on which Yaksha – the estranged lover-sent his message of love to his lady-love. Again, in a different strain, Hamlet, Shakespeare’s tragic hero felt prompted to voice his squeer philosophy about life to see the changing shapes of clouds.
Poets who have almost a prenatal (= before birth) link with nature react thus and no wonder. But even in our day-to-day life the clouds affect us impressibly. The kissan studies the cloud to see if it is time for him to till the lands; the fisherman apprehends (= feels in advance) the clemency (= goodness) or otherwise of the weather before he ventures on the sea.
We little ponder to what extent clouds command our movements and programs. It is, however, needless to mention that in the phase of our civilisation this role of clouds was not much wondered at. Then our life, being relatively more simple and stable, we lived in the midst of nature, so to say. Our heritage and culture speaks of folk songs, gathas or dance-rituals that invoked (= called) the rain-god. But, even in the hurry and dash of our modern urban life the clouds command us as an instinctive force.
Let me cite some: in marriages during the rainy season we consult the clouds; at the height of heat and dryness we consult the clouds. Even in a city whose jungle of skyscrapers allow little of the sky to meet our eyes, we consult the clouds to be armed with an umbrella. The old man fears the volley (= an outburst) of clouds as an unpleasant event during his evening stroll, while a sprinting (= skipping and jumping) chap welcomes the same as a welcome companion.
All clouds are moist and dampen the rooms and parlours in hilly localities as they sail into them through the open windows. If the blue of the sky were eternal, it would become, ultimately, a cheerless phenomenon; the clouds lend it life. Her passage over the eternal background of the blue sky paints the latter in various manners and with various beauties.
Clouds are a changing phenomenon. In autumn specs of white clouds enhance the grandeur of the vast blue background. It is a common human experience that the glory of the setting sun is never more sublime and grand than in the rainy season. It is because of the clouds. The sun-rays is refracted through the white-rimmed black clouds and splits into a multitude of colours. The rainbow also is one of its variety.
Clouds sometimes behave as a subtle element in our day-to- day life. A patent question of general science is, cloudy nights are warmer than clear nights. Thus it functions like the thermos that prevents the earth’s heat from becoming diffused in the thin air in the atmosphere. In summer this behaviour of clouds displease us as a clear weather at night feels cooler. But in colder countries it renders a cosy atmosphere.
These days eco-studies have made us alive to the innate kinship between the clouds and the woods. Man is essentially a selfish creature and, as such, blind to consequences. He ruthlessly lops off plants to serve his own interest. Large stretches of green forests have fallen a prey to his axes. Only now he realizes that his rash action has alienated (= made enemy of) nature, as the clouds very seldom visit his lands. In the upper regions of the Himalayas this deforestation results in massive landslides. Loss of plants make the soil more prone to erosion and loss or lack of rains precludes (= gives no chance) the of plants.
The earth, nature and clouds are ‘bound each to each by natural piety’, to borrow an expression for Wordsworth.
