We toyed with the idea of spending the whole month just talking about clouds, but in the end that seemed somehow… limiting. Or gloomy. It hit a little too close to home. So off we set into October, to spend 31 days meditating on clouds' optimistic counterpoints, their SILVER LININGS. Not so much the playbook type, but more kind that highlights a sable cloud. Ok, or maybe both.
So to whet your appetite (and brighten the growing dark), we present to you the first ever mention of the silver lining, from John Milton's Comus*!
O welcom pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hov'ring Angel girt with golden wings,
And thou unblemish't form of Chastity,
I see ye visibly, and now beleeve
That he, the Supreme good, t' whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistring Guardian if need were
To keep my life and honour unassail'd.
Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err, there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted Grove.
*Also known as: A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: on Michelmas night, before the right honorable, Iohn Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackly, Lord President of Wales, and one of His Maiesties most honorable privie councill