Upon the sand the slant rain falls in vain, The multitudes of the arrows of the rain; The long, gray slopes sprout cruelty, and the sand Creeps on, forever marching against the land That would be fertile and fat with ordered peace If these invasions from the sea would cease . . . . Upon the sand the slant rain falls in vain; Futile are the invasions of the rain . . . . There lies no bound nor terminus to the sand Sloping its million spears against the land Or innumerably streaming in charges blind And terrible on the little horses of the wind . . . . And, though each bent blade seems to thwart their course, It only shifts the pattern of their force; Innumerably they begin again, Grain on enlisted, diamond-helmeted grain, Overwhelming the armies of the rain . . . . Only a bitter, black marsh here and there, With a snake-mottled flower savage-fair, Or speargrass naked in the sky's caress, Pricks space in universal emptiness. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AUGUST FIRST by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE BIRTH OF VENUS by HAYDEN CARRUTH RESURRECTION UPDATE by JAMES GALVIN THE WILLOW by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON BEAUTY THAT IS NEVER OLD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON STREET-CRIES: 2. THE SHIP OF EARTH by SIDNEY LANIER |