Do Stones Feel?
Do stones feel? Do they love their life? Or does their patience drown out everything else? When I walk on the beach I gather a few white ones, dark ones, the multiple colors. Don’t worry, I say, I'll bring you back, and I do. Is the tree as it rises delighted with its many branches, each one like a poem? Are the clouds glad to unburden their bundles of rain? Most of the world says no, no, it’s not possible. I refuse to think to such a conclusion. ‘Too terrible it would be, to be wrong.
Do Stones Feel? - meaning Summary
Wonder Against a Lifeless World
The poem questions the assumption that only humans and animals possess feeling. Through stones, trees, and clouds, the speaker imagines a natural world with patience, delight, and relief. Although "most of the world" rejects this idea, the speaker refuses that conclusion because a lifeless universe feels emotionally unbearable. The poem presents attentive wonder as an ethical choice: nature may deserve sympathy even when its inner life cannot be proved.
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