Clouds

I’ve seen them a fleet of well-built ships
on blue Mediterranean vastness
and parading like rose-coated floats down
an avenue crisscrossed by trails
as straight as cadet revues.

They’ve winked at me slothfully
down from their starry perches
as they play furtive games
with a lazy gibbous moon.

Oft they become a boiling army
dropping their vapors, bullets, bombs
to the crashing crescendo
of bright brass, percussion and wind
causing the bravest to flee.

But later, suing for peace,
they raise their varicolored flags
across the storm-scrubbed horizon,
sharing their triumph with the world.

MNA
10/5/2017