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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TRANSIENT AS SUNSET, by HALCYONE G. MORGAREIDGE First Line: The waxen crown the tall saguaro wears Last Line: Transient as sunset, permanent as stone. Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence | |||
The waxen crown the tall saguaro wears Becomes her after barren years of waiting; The slender ocotillo puts on airs -- How well he knows his scarlet plumes are freighting The desert breeze with redolence that dares Small honey-makers with its spicy baiting. Around the shoulders of a rocky hill Grim buzzards in the noonday sun are drifting; About its feet hot crosswinds play at will, Slim spirals in the sand forever lifting, While in and out, and over all, the still Fleet shadows of black wings are shifting, shifting. The palo verde drops belated gold That settles lightly on arroyo gravel; A questing lizard darts across the mould Of long dead growth in his erratic travel; And fragile desert grasses, growing old, Hang out pale fringes for the wind to ravel. No sign is here of human greed except The white-rimmed scar some miner's blast has riven; Here none but the infrequent cloud has wept, No foemen other than the winds have striven. Here beauty lives for beauty's sake alone, Transient as sunset, permanent as stone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FROM THE SPANISH by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 17 by JAMES JOYCE SOUTHERN GOTHIC by DONALD JUSTICE THE BEACH IN AUGUST by WELDON KEES THE MAN SPLITTING WOOD IN THE DAYBREAK by GALWAY KINNELL THE SEEKONK WOODS by GALWAY KINNELL FIELD OF MAIZE by HALCYONE G. MORGAREIDGE |
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