Disputation by Richard Meyer

Disputation

Relentless waves collapse against the rocks
that wall a jagged, undiminished shore.
The water seems undone by granite blocks,
and yet each wasted wave is followed up with more.
Undaunted water rolls, and rolls, and rolls on in.
Both rock and wave contest where land and sea begin;
and both display their might, and both are always right.
The ancient quarrel roars and howls all day, all night.

by Richard Meyer, first published in Orbital Paths.

Editor’s Note: The rhyme and meter of this poem reflects the content—repetition of motion between sea and stone. The larger allegory speaks of our need for contest, and the lasting, unresolved motion of it.