ONCE in an old quarry, In a heathery nook among the rocks, unclothed as I reclined in the sun, facing only the great hills and the sky, Millions of years floating softly down through the aerial blue, Thy words—millions millions of human forms— I saw descending. Tiny, into the tissue of grass and tree and herb passing—into the mouths and bodies of men and animals—and here and there a fitting home in the sex-cells finding, At length, clothed mortal men and women, Out on the actual world I saw them step: Thy words—thy wandering words—each one alone, so lost, so meaningless, Each seeking his true mates, if so to spell One sentence of thy great world-wisdom out | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO MR. S.T. COLERIDGE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONNET UPON HISTORIE OF GEORGE CASTRIOT, ALIAS SCANDERBERG by EDMUND SPENSER SIX O'CLOCK by TRUMBULL STICKNEY THE YOUNG HOUSEWIFE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS WITH A COPY OF CALVERLEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS FULL-CIRCLE by MAXWELL ANDERSON |