The Cloud
The cloud is the poem's speaker as well as its subject. Capable of an immense range of moods and effects, it describes its own actions, beginning with a mild shower in stanza one and concluding with a massive storm of hurricane-like proportions. The cloud's identity is intertwined with that of everything in nature. It takes pride in its relationship to bodies of land and water, other living things, and celestial bodies. It has destructive power, but seeks harmoniousness and collaboration, not dominance. Its fundamental characteristic is fluid, cyclical changeability: it never disappears entirely, but simply evolves, becoming dramatic and visible before fading into temporary rest and calm.
The Lightning
The cloud describes lightning as a kind of close companion. The cloud supports the lightning, while the lightning guides it through the sky. During storms, the lighting facilitates the cloud's connections to the sea and the earth, helping to move it over the planet's surface. The cloud attributes to lightning a certain vitality and movement, bringing change and excitement into the cloud's own lifecycle.
The Sun
The sun is described as a majestic and beautiful part of nature, capable of illuminating every corner of the earth, and also capable of bringing about serenity and rest with its daily retreat. The cloud takes evident pride in its own collaboration with the sun—namely, helping to carry it into the sky every morning during sunrise. However, the cloud isn't always relegated to assisting the sun or enjoying its cycles. During a storm, the cloud is able to overtake the sun, so that the two are equal and complementary sources of power.
The Moon
The moon is described as a mysterious, ethereal, and beautiful maiden. She steps along the cloud, sometimes tearing it with her footfalls. The cloud does not resent this, but in fact welcomes it, happily parting to allow the moon to shine through, and enjoying the sight of moonlight illuminating the earth below. However, the cloud is also able to entirely block out the moon's light during storms, creating yet another fluid, shifting power dynamic.
