Robinson Jeffers

Practical People

Practical people, I have been told, Weary of the sea for his waves go up and down Endlessly to no visible purpose; Tire of the tides, for the tides are tireless, the tides Are well content with their own march-tune And nothing accomplished is no matter to them. It seems wasteful to practical people. And that the nations labor and gather and dissolve Into destruction; the stars sharpen Their spirit of splendor, and then it dims, and the stars Darken; and that the spirit of man Sharpens up to maturity and cools dull With age, dies, and rusts out of service; And all these tidal gatherings, growth and decay, Shining and darkening, are forever Renewed; and the whole cycle impenitently Revolves, and all the past is future:--- Make it a difficult world . . . for practical people.