Pages

Friday, November 2, 2012

"In Trackless Woods," by Richard Wilbur

"Autumn Rhythm: Number 30" by Jackson Pollock

In trackless woods, it puzzled me to find
Four great rock maples seemingly aligned,
As if they had been set out in a row
Before some house a century ago,
To edge the property and lend some shade.
I looked to see if ancient wheels had made
Old ruts to which the trees ran parallel,
But there were none, so far as I could tell—
There'd been no roadway. Nor could I find the square
Depression of a cellar anywhere,
And so I tramped on further, to survey
Amazing patterns in a hornbeam spray
Or spirals in a pine cone, under trees
Not subject to our stiff geometries.

"In Trackless Woods" by Richard Wilbur, from Collected Poems, 1943-2004. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.

1 comment:

  1. Love the front page photo, very original.

    I'm @ www.smallstreambrowntroutfishing.blogspot.com

    Call in a follow if you can?

    ReplyDelete