Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DRIFTING CLOUD by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

First Line: BORN OF THE SHADOWS THAT IT PASSES THROUGH
Last Line: O CLOUD, THOU HAST A HUMAN DESTINY!
Subject(s): CLOUDS;
BORN of the shadows that it passes through,
Incessantly becoming and destroyed,
Its form unchanged, its substance ever new,
Builded from its own largess to the void;
Of steady purpose innerly aware,
Yet blindly borne upon the streaming air, --

Giving itself away, distributing
Its own abundant heart in splendid showers,
But not impoverished, since its losses bring
Perpetual renewing all the hours:
Drifting, sunlit or shadowed, to the sea, --
O cloud, thou hast a human destiny!



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