At Stonehenge

Katherine Garrison Chapin

Here are the wise men baffled, here is a mark
 Deeply made, cutting forever into the mind.
The mind cannot escape it, where it stands stark,
 A word once spoken, a fervent message unsigned.
Measure the sun, measure the track of the stars,
 The season's curve, and the path where summer light fell.
Ponder these stones with their age-indelible scars,
 And learn no atom of all that this place can tell.
But if you have faced the heavy weight of defeat,
 Bent down to the earth with sand and blood in your eyes,
Or stood in the cleft where darkness and darkness meet,
 Knowing the imminent presence of light in the skies-
Then you will feel this desire unfathomed, deep
 To set a sign forever, spoken or still.
It stands undefeated here, where the long winds sweep;
  I know, for I would say it, and have not the skill.