Immediates? Let us take for text The bite of salt through sodden wool, And place a running headrope next Ink by the pen or bucketful. A cent for haddock, two for cod; Weather a chance, and wind a guess— But no allegiance to the god Of unavailing bitterness. Here on the roofless beach they know The fallibility of plan, That justice and injustice grow Not from the system but the man. An ageless land and sea conspire To smooth the imperfect mould of birth; While freezing spray and drying fire Translate the inexplicit earth: "Get understanding first of these: The open cut, the healing scar; Before you flick prophetic keys To tell us what immediates are." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ODE, PARAPHRASED: THE CUP by ANACREON SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 2. IN CHURCH by THOMAS HARDY THE DARK-EYED GENTLEMAN by THOMAS HARDY SONG OF MYSELF by WALT WHITMAN THE YOUNG CARPENTER by AL-RUSAFI |