SONG OF QUIETNESS

by: Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962)

RINK 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,
They yearlong home.

• Robinson Jeffers: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Robinson Jeffers; includes a list of critical and biographical resources.
• Purchase books by Robinson Jeffers