At Carmel Highlands
Below the gardens and the darkening pines
The living water sinks among the stones,
Sinking yet foaming till the snowy tones
Merge with the fog drawn landward in dim lines.
The cloud dissolves among the flowering vines,
And now the definite mountain-side disowns
The fluid world, the immeasurable zones.
Then white oblivion swallows all designs.
But still the rich confusion of the sea,
Unceasing voice, sombre and solacing,
Rises through veils of silence past the trees;
In restless repetition bound, yet free,
Wave after wave in deluge fresh releasing
An ancient speech, hushed in tremendous ease.
Copyright Credit: Janet Lewis, "Carmel Highlands" from Selected Poems of Janet Lewis. Copyright © 2000 by Janet Lewis. Reprinted by permission of Ohio University Press / Swallow Press.
Source: Poetry (January 1938)