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[Newspsper clipping]
The City of Clouds

When I am a-weary of people and
towns
And the fret and the worry and woe
Of life at its best, to a little gray rock
In the heart of the meadows I go,
And there in the silence, sequestered
and sweet,
Away from the riotous crowd,
My fanciful spirit slips out of the
flesh
And visits the City of Cloud.

Its domes and its minarets, turrets and
towers
Are silver and mother of pearl,
And white satin banners with fringes
of silk
From its spires in the azure unfurl.
The steep terrace stairs and the ave-
nues broad,
The gates and the palaces proud
Are of pure alabaster and ivory carved
In the glorious City of Cloud.

Only lilies unclose in its gardens and
groves,
Ships snowy sailed float to its piers,
No sound ever shatters the quiet su-
pheme,
No calendar reckons the years;
But at sunrise and sunset its shimmer-
ing roofs
With splendor untold are endowed,
Then a glitter with amethysts, rubies
and gold
Is the beautiful City of Cloud.

I meet in the streets all the hopes and
the dreams
That melted alas! into air,
And young Love who died of too ar-
dent a kiss,
And Truth who was slain with a
hair,
And none are unhappy or sick or in
pain,
There are neither a crutch or a
shroud
Or a whip or a weapon or hunger or
tears
In the marvelous City of Cloud.

To eyes that are blind to the beauty
of star
And blossom and billow, behold!
My city enchanted is only a mass
Of cumuli fold upon fold,
But to world beaten hearts like my
own it's the place
Where no shadow of strife is al-
lowed,
And my spirit untrammeled may dance
with the sun
In the wonderful City of Cloud
--Minna Irving.