The speaker represents the collective human observers of the storm, identified only through the first-person plural pronouns "our" and "our heads." They hold a low position in the poem's cosmic hierarchy, standing beneath the weather patterns with no physical control over the elements. Rather than acting, the collective voice simply witnesses the sensory details of the transitioning weather.

The thunder acts as the primary atmospheric force occurring during the poem's opening. It takes the metaphorical shape of large, hollow flowers that rumble in the wind and act as clappers striking human ears. Despite its initial auditory dominance over the sky, the storm actively loses its structural integrity as the sunlight hits it.

The sun operates as the highest cosmic power presented in the poem's natural hierarchy. It acts as an agent of change that initiates the end of the storm. It bites into the clouds, forcing them to bleed rain and transition the environment from a noisy storm to a quiet, sunlit drip.

The earth sits at the bottom of the poem's physical hierarchy, catching the slow, fat drops of rain. It possesses a sweet quality, linking it directly to the metaphorical honey dripping from the storm clouds above. In a sudden reversal of physical laws at the poem's conclusion, it appears to fly rapidly away from the noise of the thunder.