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The Face of Things

Text of Poem

The creek retreats from flood rage
to its summer voice, trees
shake out leaves, turn the page
from dark and cold to seize
on green directions, how
blackbirds float from bough to bough.

Sap’s rise wakes an old tune.
Almost persuaded now I hear
rustle, whisper, sigh and soon
flowers burst from bud, queer
to return again to this new start
where violence detonates and bursts the heart.

Yet for the moment I stand caught
in the web spread by morning’s sun
where time hangs beckoning, I ought
dig deep, plant seed and feel begun
faith in my roots, that my sweat brings
truth again to the face of things.

First Line
The creek retreats from flood rage
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1970
Original Citation
Virginia Quarterly Review 46 (Autumn 1970) 595.
Complete Poems
227, 388
Hearst Collections
Word Count
110
Variant

The first two stanzas of "The Face of Things" were reused in the poem "Sap's Rise."

Poetic Form
closed
Observations
The first two stanzas of "The Face of Things" were reused in the poem "Sap's Rise."
Themes