Christ was your lord and captain all your life,
He fails the world but you he did not fail,
He led you through all forms of grief and strife
Intact, a man full-armed, he let prevail
Nor outward malice nor the worse-fanged snake
That coils in one's own brain against your calm,
That great rich jewel well guarded for his sake
With coronal age and death like quieting balm.
I Father having followed other guides
And oftener to my hurt no leader at all,
Through years nailed up like dripping panther hides
For trophies on a savage temple wall
Hardly anticipate that reverend stage
Of life, the snow-wreathed honor of extreme age.
YOU ARE READING
The Selected Poetry Of Robinson Jeffers
PoetryAll poems belong to Robinson Jeffers. I own nothing. Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) is a major voice in twentieth-century American poetry, a poetic alternative to the high modernism of Eliot and Pound. An important figure for contemporary poets who ha...
