Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GRAVEL PIT, by ANNE SOUTHERNE TARDY First Line: This conclave of innumerable stones Last Line: In battlements that tower toward the sun. Subject(s): Sonnet (as Literary Form); Stones; Granite; Rocks | ||||||||
I This conclave of innumerable stones, The blood and sinew of earth's hidden might, Has rested in quiescence; sensed no light No clamorous or responsive antiphones Have pierced the mould. Strong dynasties and thrones Have crumbled, while the solid troglodite Has slept, deep sepulchred through endless night When Chaos was, and life but undertones. As callous shovels urged by alien hands Now stir, and pry them forth relentlessly, From immemorial and dungeoned keep, Dust, like the mist above the ocean sands, Rises above this dry forgotten sea, Ghost of the fog which hid an ancient deep. II These satin-finished globules were entombed When first the land was parted from the sea; Ground by the heel of time immutably, And at the fateful hour of birth inhumed By darkness, irrevocably fore-doomed To aeons of Cimmerian apathy. Now by the same unalterable decree, Darkness pierced, an ultimate day has loomed. The indurated pebbly whiteness lays New paths for eager mortals to pursue, Paving a stony way to bulwarks won, The cloud-high miracles that man assay. From subterranean depths they rise anew In battlements that tower toward the sun. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STONE'S SECRET by MARGARET AVISON CONTRA MORTEM: THE STONE by HAYDEN CARRUTH NAMING FOR LOVE by HAYDEN CARRUTH OF THE STONES OF THE PLACE by ROBERT FROST THE EYE IN THE ROCK by JOHN HAINES THE HEAD ON THE TABLE by JOHN HAINES INLAND SEA-SHELL by ANNE SOUTHERNE TARDY |
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