The Clouds

The clouds give back to earth againThe moisture they absorb;An atom floating in the sunIs lasting as an orb.

We fear lest ill should fly itself,And wrong at last prevail:Lest good should lack its just rewardAnd light untimely fail:

We falter, and distrust the fateWe may not understand;Interrogate the oracle,When God is close at hand.

And still the clouds go drifting by,Or fall in fruitful rain:High over us the stars, undimmed,Benignant shine again;

And from that temple, viewless, vast,Where failure is unknown,The Father of existencesKeeps watch above his own.