A Sphinx
A Sphinx - meaning Summary
Unfathomed Quiet of Ages
The speaker addresses a silent sphinx-like figure that has watched civilizations pass without speaking. The poem contrasts public questioning—processions and marchers—with the creature's fixed, inscrutable stillness. Rather than pleading for revelation, the speaker claims to already possess the creature's secrets and to hold questions quietly. The piece focuses on the tension between outward inquiry and an inward, knowing silence that endures across ages.
Read Complete AnalysesClose-mouthed you sat five thousand years and never let out a whisper. Processions came by, marchers, asking questions you answered with grey eyes never blinking, shut lips never talking. Not one croak of anything you know has come from your cat crouch of ages. I am one of those who know all you know and I keep my questions: I know the answers you hold.
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