The Cloud

I am the daughter of Earth and Water

And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores

I change, but I cannot die.

For after the rain with never a stain

The pavilion of Heaven is Gale,

And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams

Build up the blue dome of air,

I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,

And out of the caverns of rain,

Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,

I arise and unbuild it again.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,

From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken

The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,

As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,

And whiten the green plains under,

And then again I dissolve it in rain,

And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I am the daughter of Earth and Water

And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores

I change, but I cannot die.

For after the rain with never a stain

The pavilion of Heaven is Gale,

And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams

Build up the blue dome of air,

I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,

And out of the caverns of rain,

Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,

I arise and unbuild it again.