Cloudburst
Death is where I dwell forever,
In a loneliness sublime,
Tumult in the offing ever,
Death the chastener of time.
Out the raging, ugly heaven,
Dashing down its barren rain,
Death the peace so apt to leaven,
Miseries and raw disdain.
Clouds arrayed in steely sadness,
Concrete skies bereft of hope,
Stormy wrath in growing madness,
Death the only means to cope.
Fortitude arising slowly,
In the arms of blackest night,
Stricken sore and battered lowly,
Death the balm and soft delight.
Out the lightning ever pitching,
Out the hail in thrumming force,
Thunderclaps of doom bewitching,
Death the door and heaven’s source.
Underneath the skull’s provision—
Shelter from the coming doom,
Harmony in sweet revision,
Hidden from ungodly gloom.
Airs alive with spiteful laughter,
Clouds disposed to rage anon,
Death the keeper from disaster,
Death the stalwart inner sun…
Cloudburst, 1920
Heinrich Kley (1863–1945) was a German painter and illustrator famous for his darkly humorous, satirical, and fantastical pen-and-ink drawings
