Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone,
plunges headlong into that black pond
where, absurd and out-of-season, a single swan
floats chaste as snow, taunting the clouded mind
which hungers to haul the white reflection down.
The austere sun descends above the fen,
an orange cyclops-eye, scorning to look
longer on this landscape of chagrin;
feathered dark in thought, I stalk like a rook,
brooding as the winter night comes on.
Last summer’s reeds are all engraved in ice
as is your image in my eye; dry frost
glazes the window of my hurt; what solace
can be struck from rock to make heart’s waste
grow green again? Who’d walk in this bleak place?
(Sylvia Plath)
More Poetry from Sylvia Plath:
Sylvia Plath Poems based on Topics: Water, Mind, Place, Snow, Winter, Thought & Thinking- Ariel (Sylvia Plath Poems)
- Love Letter (Sylvia Plath Poems)
- Insomniac (Sylvia Plath Poems)
- Face Lift (Sylvia Plath Poems)
- Snakecharmer (Sylvia Plath Poems)
- The Disquieting Muses (Sylvia Plath Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Mind Poems, Place Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Water Poems, Snow Poems, Winter PoemsBased on Keywords: engraved, scorning, hungers, plunges, rook, taunting, fen, chagrin, sluice, glazes, out-of-season