The old voice of the ocean, the bird-chatter of little rivers,
(Winter has given them gold for silver
To stain their water and bladed green for brown to line their banks)
>From different throats intone one language.
So I believe if we were strong enough to listen without
Divisions of desire and terror
To the storm of the sick nations, the rage of the hunger smitten cities,
Those voices also would be found
Clean as a child’s; or like some girl’s breathing who dances alone
By the ocean-shore, dreaming of lovers.
Natural Music
Analysis, meaning and summary of Robinson Jeffers's poem Natural Music
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Jeffers points the way for us, out of the quagmire. We are not to despise the mess we are, but to hear in its anguish the same clear voice that we hear in nature. Nature does not despair, she cleanses herself. Her cleansing is an act of beauty and an adding of value (bladed green for brown), and her result is beauty, too, a place restored to love. And we are nature. The challenge that Jeffers set us is to be present utterly, “to listen” to our creations, our disasters, and ourselves.