The clouds are given human emotional capability, the ability to care or not care. Like many agnostic writers who believed in a God or gods, but who were or are disillusioned with death, destruction, war, and other sufferings of mankind, the speaker has come to the conclusion that because people die, “one after another,” the gods must be cold-hearted.

Another detail that supports the reading of clouds as a symbol for the gods appears in the first two lines of the poem, where the speaker comments that clouds are “difficult to describe” and have the ability to change their “shapes, shade, pose, arrangement” (lines 1 and 6). Deities are often taking new shapes across time and cultures. For instance, throughout time, the Sumerian goddess Ianna (goddess of love, fertility, and war) became the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, who also is known as Aphrodite to the Greeks and Diana to the Romans. While pagan rituals to Ishtar included baby sacrifice, today many people dip Easter eggs (or Ishtar eggs) into red dye to imitate the ancient ritual. Of course, the understanding of the ritual now is a celebration of fertility just as it was then, but the ritual itself has changed to match our more modern and humane culture. There are many other examples of gods that have slightly altered over time and region, and the speaker uses the shape-shifting of the clouds to depict how they adapt to different cultures and eras, even if it means taking the form of symbolism instead of existing as an idol to be directly worshipped.

The difficulty of describing the gods does not seem to be a concern for them. Szymborska’s gods seem to care so little for mankind, they do not even care if they are sought after or observed! It would be as if you cared so little for a person, you never thought to consider if they ever thought of or noticed you! This is evident in the last two lines of the poem, where the poet says, “They aren’t obliged to vanish when we’re gone. / They don’t have to be seen while sailing on” (lines 27-28). This “fleet” of clouds, or strong, capable army of gods sailing on the seas of the sky, does not need to be seen or worshiped or sought by man. Man’s gaze cannot impact their identity. Furthermore, after man’s short vapor of a life has disappeared, the gods are not “obliged” or obligated to disappear, too. In the speaker’s view, the gods do not exist in the mind of man, but truly exist as entities, and these entities do not seem to care.

In "Clouds," the poet W. Symborska uses a kind of negative personification a number of times in his descriptions of clouds.  In other words, the poet describes how clouds do not act like people. 

The clouds "don’t repeat a single shape, shade, pose, [or] arrangement."

The clouds are "unburdened by memory of any kind."

They "float easily over the facts" and cannot "bear witness" to anything.

The poet also compares clouds to a "haughty fleet" of ships that "cruises smoothly over your whole life."

The poet seems to be using these metaphors and personifications in order to reflect on the very different nature of human beings.  In contrast to clouds, humans are burdened by memories; they bear witness to, and are affected, by many different events; and they do not "cruise smoothly" through life.