Nothing Stays

Mark Van Doren 1894 (Vermilion County) – 1972 (Torrington)



Nothing stays
not even change,
That can grow tired
of it's own name;
The very thought
too much for it.

Somewhere in air
a stillness is,
So far, so thin-
But let it alone.
Whoever we are
it is not for us

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

13 sec read
75

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXXX XXXXXX
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 201
Words 44
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

Mark Van Doren

Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. more…

All Mark Van Doren poems | Mark Van Doren Books

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