Elinor Wylie

From “Still Colors”

FOR this you’ve striven,

Daring, to fail:

Your sky is riven

Like a tearing veil.

For this, you’ve wasted

Wings of your youth;

Divined, and tasted

Bitter springs of truth.

From sand unslakèd

Twisted strong cords,

And wandered naked

Among trysted swords.

There’s a word unspoken,

A knot untied.

Whatever is broken

The earth may hide.

The road was jagged

Over sharp stones:

Your body’s too ragged

To cover your bones.

The wind scatters

Tears upon dust;

Your soul’s in tatters

Where the spears thrust.

Your race is ended—

See, it is run:

Nothing is mended

Under the sun.

Straight as an arrow

You fall to a sleep

Not too narrow

And not too deep.