This is the grass your feet are planted on.
You paint it orange or you sing it green,
But you have never found
A way to make the grass mean what you mean.

A cloud can be whatever you intend:
Ostrich or leaning tower or staring eye.
But you have never found
A cloud sufficient to express the sky.

Get out there with your splendid expertise;
Raymond who cuts the meadow does not less.
Inhuman nature says:
Inhuman patience is the true success.

Human impatience trips you as you run;
Stand still and you must lie.
It is the grass that cuts the mower down;
It is the cloud that swallows up the sky.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Adrienne Rich's poem Rural Reflections

2 Comments

  1. tiffie says:

    Hi! I love your poem. I understand what it means.
    “Patience is the key to success”….i like it a lot.

  2. Rao says:

    1.Inhuman patience is the true success.
    2.It is the grass that cuts the mower down;

    What wonderful declarations!

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