Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WALLS by MARJORIE MEEKER

First Line: ASK ME WHY I PEER
Last Line: CAN SPLIT A ROCK.

Ask me why I peer
Through such a narrow cranny --
I say that sky from here
Is better than not any.

The walls that shut me in
No mind can make immortal;
My harder will shall win
The yet unthought-of portal.

Ask why I take root
Where nothing green is growing --
I say that seed and shoot
Follow the mad wind's sowing;

But where these live roots turn
And thrust, no wall shall block:
Tendril of frailest fern
Can split a rock.



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