Bright or cloudy

Will the day be bright or cloudy?

Sweetly has its dawn begun;

But the heav'n may shake with thunder

Ere the setting of the sun.

Lady, watch Apollo's journey:

Thus thy first born's course shall be

If his beams through summer vapours

Warm the earth all placidly,

Her days will pass like a pleasant dream

In sweet tranquillity.

If it darken, if a shadow

Quench his rays and summon rain,

Flow'rs may open, buds may blossom:

Bud and flow'r alike are vain;

Her days shall pass a mournful story

All in care and tears and pain.

If the wind be fresh and free,

The wide skies clear and cloudless blue,

The woods and fields and golden flowers

Sparkling in sunshine and in dew,

Her days shall pass in Glory's light

The world's dry desert through.