Only the wind is ageless The sea was long since old; Its tides more bitter Than the bitterest tears, Are hag-ridden of the moon -- The moon itself shrunken and blind And mayhaps mad. The once tumultuous earth lies mouldering, Worm-eaten, oblivious, and black. The rocks are rotting in the dark. Thin scums of life Creep with the seasons Hunted by hungry suns And stilled at last with snow. Only the wind is ageless, Restless, variable, and fresh With all caprice. The wind flows as a river, Is still, or darts like a falcon Through the changing zones. All else is destined to its way: Earth, moon and stars Move on the unexploring feet Of age. Only the wind is young And friend to youth. Its wings are eager Of discovery. It mocks the moon, It drives the sea, And scorns the land. Its beauty rides invisible And all its ways are ways Of gay disdain. Only the clouds belong to it -- The lonely, lovely clouds That are the trailing garments Of its processional. Only the clouds can be So proud, remote and secret, But they pass: The wind returns -- Only the wind in all the universe Is ageless. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 5 by CONRAD AIKEN PORTRAIT OF A BOY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE RED TURTLENECK by KAREN SWENSON SPRING SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE BATTLE OF CHARLESTON HARBOR by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE ON LUCY, COUNTESS OF BEDFORD by BEN JONSON THE CASE OF DOMINEERING JOHN ALEXIS UPHAM by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |