CLOUDS
Clouds in the skies above , heavenly wanderers , Long strings of snowy pearls stretched over azure plains ! Exiles like I , you rush farther and farther on , Leaving my dear North , go distances measureless . What drives you southward ? Is ' t envy that covertly Prods you or malice whose arrows strike openly ? Destiny is it ? A crime hanging over you ? Or friendship ' s honeyed but poisonous calumny ? No ! O ' er those barren wastes heedlessly journeying , Passion you know not or anguish or punishment ; Feeling you lack , you are free - free eternally , You have no homeland , for you there ' s no banishment .
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov 1814-1841
Above : Johnathan Blaine Opposite page : Ronald Kotinsky
PORTFOLIO MAGAZINE 17