I chose the bed downstairs by the sea-window for a good death-bed
When we built the house, it is ready waiting,
Unused unless by some guest in a twelvemonth, who hardly suspects
Its latter purpose. I often regard it,
With neither dislike nor desire; rather with both, so equalled
That they kill each other and a crystalline interest
Remains alone. We are safe to finish what we have to finish;
And then it will sound rather like music
When the patient daemon behind the screen of sea-rock and sky
Thumps with his staff, and calls thrice: “Come, Jeffers.”

Analysis, meaning and summary of Robinson Jeffers's poem The Bed By The Window

1 Comment

  1. Charles Rodewald says:

    On January 20, 1962, the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach Ca was delayed due to a rare snow storm. that was the big news that day. It was also the day Jeffers died at home in “The Bed by the Window.”

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