Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Heather McHugh

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

Things are not
unmoving (or else what

is ing inside them for?)
The things once-living

fall on the never-living all
the more movingly for the eye

that passes over them.
The wind wells up

to spill a trail
of onces off the nevers,

take opaque from eye
to mind, or near it—

every rocking takes
some leaving to

a stonish spirit.
Close

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

Things are not
unmoving (or else what

is ing inside them for?)
The things once-living

fall on the never-living all
the more movingly for the eye

that passes over them.
The wind wells up

to spill a trail
of onces off the nevers,

take opaque from eye
to mind, or near it—

every rocking takes
some leaving to

a stonish spirit.

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère