Classic Poem

Effortlessly graceful
And with so many impulsive
Secrets thrust in bubbles
That human thought must ever
Seem incomplete in comparison,
The water flows over these stones.
Impersonal, mellow, greenish wetness
Of rocks and pebbles, much harder than human sternness
And yet, with feathers within them
Given through long years by the water—
A girl could split her heart upon them;
A man could blend them into his curse;
A woman could gaze at them, staring herself into peace,
But the rocks and the water, lucidly,
Urgently, purely sufficient unto themselves,
Would still suggest the lesson
Almost forever evaded
By human hearts and minds.