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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Song of Quietness

California Coast from Robinson Jeffers' Tor House, Carmel, CA
—Anonymous Photo



SONG OF QUIETNESS
—Robinson Jeffers, 1887-1962

Drink deep, drink deep of quietness,
    And on the margins of the sea
Remember not thine old distress
    Nor all the miseries to be.
Calmer than mists, and cold
As they, that fold on fold
Up the dim valley are rolled,
    Learn thou to be.

The Past—it was a feverish dream,
    A drunken slumber full of tears.
The Future—O what wild wings gleam,
    Wheeled in the van of desperate years!
Thou lovedst the evening: dawn
Glimmers; the night is gone:—
What dangers lure thee on,
    What dreams more fierce?

But meanwhile, now the east is gray,
    The hour is pale, the cocks yet dumb,
Be glad before the birth of day,
    Take thy brief rest ere morning come:
Here in the beautiful woods
All night the sea-mist floods,—
Thy last of solitudes,
    Thy yearlong home.

________________________

—Medusa



 —Anonymous Photo

Celebrate poetry today at 2pm as Mosaic of Voices 
presents Wendy Patrice Williams, Graciela B. Ramírez, 
and Laura Llano. Avid Reader at Tower, 16th & Broadway, 
Sacramento. Host: Nancy Aidé González. 
(Scroll down to the blue box (under the green box at the right) 
for info about this and other upcoming readings in our area—
and note that other readings may be added at the last minute.)









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