The Fable

BY YVOR WINTERS

Beyond the steady rock the steady sea,

In movement more immovable than station,

Gathers and washes and is gone. It comes,

A slow obscure metonymy of motion,

Crumbling the inner barriers of the brain.

But the crossed rock braces the hills and makes

A steady quiet of the steady music,

Massive with peace.

And listen, now:

The foam receding down the sand silvers

Between the grains, thin, pure as virgin words,

Lending a sheen to Nothing, whispering.

Yvor Winters, “The Fable” from The Collected Poems of Yvor Winters. Used by permission of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio.

Source: The Collected Poems of Yvor Winters (1960)

Original image for header by Daniel Gregoire on Unsplash

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