We are clouds before the midnight moon,
We shine, we shake, we drift too fast,
A moment bright, then gone at last.
Like broken lyres in restless air,
Our strings reply to every storm,
No single sound is ever warm.
A dream can poison gentle sleep,
A wandering thought can stain the day,
Our calm and chaos trade their way.
We laugh, we weep, we rise, we fall,
We hold fond pain, then let it flee,
Our hearts refuse to constant be.
Joy walks with sorrow hand in hand,
Both pass us by without a trace,
Time never slows its silent pace.
Yesterday fades into the night,
Tomorrow shifts its fragile view,
Nothing stays old, nothing stays new.
This truth remains when all things break,
Through love and loss, through change and pain,
Mutability calls again.
It shapes our thoughts, it bends our will,
In every breath, in every state,
Mutability writes our fate.
Accept the flow, the rise, the fall,
For in this change, we learn to see,
Mutability sets us free.
“Mutability” Summary
“Mutability” by Percy Bysshe Shelley explains that everything in life is always changing. Human emotions, thoughts, joy, and sorrow never remain the same. Just like clouds or music, life is unstable and temporary. The poem teaches that change is the only permanent truth.
