botanic gardens, montreal One of the things I love most in life, strangely enough, is fleeting and ephemeral: clouds. I love them, am fascinated by them, and can stare at them for hours on end. They’re ever changing and remind me of how life is ever changing. Nothing ever stays the same, people come and go, we move through time slowly, as if a cloud, always forming and reforming. Sometime benign, sometimes volatile, sometimes thunderous. And always … always so full of dreams, secrets, and potential. CLOUDS See the clouds adrift so far below Ever changing as they come and go; Makes me wonder why I'm up so high When really I am down so low Of all the wonders I was one allowed I think that I would always choose a cloud, Always bring my feelings right out loud, Whether I'm ashamed or proud. And on this airplane coming home to you, Sometimes I think I've flown my whole life through, My whole life through, As I wing my way to you. See the clouds, they're giving life below In colors that the canvass cannot show; Keeping secrets no one else could know, For I'm the one who told them so. Now and then I get up close to you, Like to stay, but I'm just passing through, So I'll have to say goodbye, Until next time I fly. — David Gates, Clouds (1973)