A Cloud Withdrew from the Sky
poem 895
A Cloud Withdrew from the Sky - meaning Summary
Ephemeral Glimpse, Firm Resolve
Dickinson’s short poem treats a fleeting, luminous vision—represented by a cloud—as a lost encounter with the divine. The speaker laments failing to hold that radiance in an "hermetic" memory and imagines how retaining it would have benefited them now. The mood shifts from regret to resolution: the speaker vows not to acknowledge an angel casually until they are "firm in Heaven." The poem compresses themes of transience, failed capture of spiritual experience, and a determined intention to attain inner readiness before future encounters with the sacred.
Read Complete AnalysesA Cloud withdrew from the Sky Superior Glory be But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries Are forever lost to me Had I but further scanned Had I secured the Glow In an Hermetic Memory It had availed me now. Never to pass the Angel With a glance and a Bow Till I am firm in Heaven Is my intention now.
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