Gone

There was a flower blowing
and a hand plucked it.

There was a stream flowing
and a body smirched it.

There was a pure mirror
of water and a face came

and looked in it. There were words
and wars and treaties, and feet trampled

the earth and the wheels
seared it; and an explosion

followed. There was dust
and silence; and out of the dust

a plant grew, and the dew formed
upon it; and a stream seeped

from the dew to construct
a mirror, and the mirror was empty.

—

Ronald Stuart Thomas (1913-2000)

R.S. Thomas, Collected Poems, 1945 - 1990; Phoenix Books, London; ISBN 0753811057
R.S. Thomas, Collected Later Poems, 1988 - 2000; Bloodaxe Books, Highgreen; ISBN 1852246480
R.S. Thomas, Selected Poems; Penguin Books, Harmondsworth; ISBN 0140188908