The Sage and the Stones

His neighbors farmed
            their stones with hate,
But Emerson saw more
            than weight,
 
saw more than statues
            of the dead,
"A stone is a granite book,"
            he said.
 
Stones break plows
            and show their might,
and farmers answer
            with dynamite.
 
But the will of force
            cannot be done
against the truth,
            said Emerson.
 
Knowledge is more
            than laws and books,
he went on reading
            stones and brooks.
Original Citation

Limited View. Muscatine, IA: Prairie Press, 1962.

Word Count
67
Date Published
1962
Book Appearance
Limited View
Complete Poems
97
First Line
His Neighbors farmed
Bibliographic Notes

Original Title of The Sage The Stones; Reprinted in the Complete Works as Emerson's Page

Observations

Text differs significantly between Limited View and Complete Works; no other publication of poem is noted in Ward bibliography