Wind blows upon them salt-edged from the ocean, Rain beats upon them, blackening the stone, Frost heaves the ledges with obscure commotion, And the hilltops bleach like bone. Dwindling mountains are they on a dwindling planet, These that look so solid, these that show so fair; Wind and rain and frost and hail set tooth to the granite, It wastes like smoke into air. Though they now are passing like a slow word spoken, In the inch of time wherein man stands alone He sees their rock-knees holding, sees their flanks unbroken, And his heart drinks strength from the stone. Yet they are at best but a short-lived generation, Such as stars must laugh at as they journey forth. Think of old Orion, that great constellation, And the Dipper all alone in the north! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA by SAMUEL HAWKINS MARSHALL BYERS HUNTING SONG, FR. ZAPOLYA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE MORNING by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR GLOTTO'S TOWER by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO ALTHEA, FROM PRISON by RICHARD LOVELACE UNDER THE SHADE OF THE TREES [MAY 10, 1863] by MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON EVEN SO by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONG OF SEID NIMETOLLAH OF KUHISTAN by AMIR NURU'D-DIN NI'MATU'LLAH TO SWEET MEAT, SOUR SAUCE; AN IMITATION OF THEOCRITUS OR ANACREON by PHILIP AYRES |