Nature's Hologram

(For Day One of the OctpoWrimo Daily Prompt: Clouds)

when i was little
clouds floated up above
the tall buildings
like meringue on a pie

faraway, unreachable, transcendent

now where i live they reach down to
the ground, tickling the edge of the
horizon
not above but beside, a cottony boundary

seedbed for the thirsty earth
friendly and beautiful, an orchestra pit
for angels serenading
rows and flows of angel hair 

flying above them, visage from a window
i want to step out and bounce on the
billowy white surfaces, lay down in their
encompassing embrace

commune with their weightlessness
sink into their depths
pull off a piece like cotton candy
and squeeze it in my palms

from below there are days those unmenacing
billows turn yellow and black
and twist, turning Jekyll into Hyde
swirling, spinning, touching down

and destroying
dismantling
making a way where there was
no way leaving only devastation

as walls tumble and foundations cave
there is a silence after the train wreck
and the soft, baby's butt innocence returns
to a blinding blue canvas

as if nothing happened

ice cream castles in the air 
feather canyons everywhere 

after the storm there is peace again
a smile from the heavens across the
horizon with orange and purple and light
the moon in the wings waiting to go on

you can't grasp it or hold it
or control it you can't touch it or
bounce on it's soft billowy surface
or play harps with the angels

you can only look and wonder
knowing the power that lurks in the beauty
a power to respect, a wonder to embrace
i really don't know clouds at all