The Crystal Gazer

I shall gather myself into myself again,
   I shall take my scattered selves and make them one,
Fusing them into a polished crystal ball
   Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.

I shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent,
   Watching the future come and the present go,
And the little shifting pictures of people rushing
   In restless self-importance to and fro.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on January 30, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“The Crystal Gazer” appeared in Dark of the Moon (The Macmillan Company, 1926).