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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CREST JEWEL, by JAMES STEPHENS Poet's Biography First Line: The leaf will wrinkle to decay Last Line: In him who dreams in me and you. Subject(s): God | |||
(1) The leaf will wrinkle to decay, And crumble into dust away! The rose, the lily, grow to eld, And are, and are no more, beheld! Nothing will stay! For, as the eye Rests upon an object nigh, It is not there to look upon! It is mysteriously gone! And, in its place, another thing Apes its shape and fashioning! (2) All that the sun will breath to-day The moon will lip and wear away To-night! And all will re-begin To-morrow as the dawn comes in! Is no beginning, middle-trend, Or argument to that, or end! No cause and no effect, and no Reason why it should be so! Or why it might be otherwise To other minds, or other eyes! (3) The soul can dream itself to be Adrift upon an endless sea Of day and night! The soul can seem To be all things that it can dream! Yet needs but look within to find That which is steady in the wind! That which the fire does not appal! Which good and ill move not at all! Which does not seek, or lack, or try! And was not born, and cannot die! (4) It has been writ in wisdom old -- This is the last word to be told: -- There is no dissolution! No Creation! There are none in woe! There is no teacher, teaching, taught! Are none who long for, lack for aught! Are none who pine for freedom! None Are liberated under sun! -- And this is absolutely true In Him who dreams in me and you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOUNTAIN IS STRIPPED by DAVID IGNATOW AS CLOSE AS BREATHING by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 1 by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN BIRTH-DUES by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE SILENT SHEPHERDS by ROBINSON JEFFERS GOING TO THE HORSE FLATS by ROBINSON JEFFERS |
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