# Missing Poem - Watch this thread drop like a rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121 "2001-10-28T17:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/1 "2001-10-28T17:31:14Z")
So I’m looking for a poem I read when I was a kid, in a literature textbook. The problem is, I can’t remember the author, the title, or much of the damn poem itself. The lines that I recall are: “And the mountain, friendless, wept and said it could not help itself” Any clue what or who? ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/2 "2001-10-28T17:55:47Z")
Mr. Cynical, I can’t help you a bit. In fact, if your memory is much like mine, you probably made up that line because it sounded cool. But I can send you back to the top! Alley-oop! ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/3 "2001-10-28T18:02:19Z")
Well, I’ve been scouring the web looking for that line. So far, no luck. Although, for some reason, it does sound familiar to me. It must not be the exact phrase, though, because no site recognizes it. Yet. I’ll post back again if I find it. It’s kinda driving me nuts, now. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/4 "2001-10-28T18:20:29Z")
I don’t have any idea. I don’t think I’ve ever read it. But I can at least help keep the question from dropping like a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/5 "2001-10-28T18:56:49Z")
I posted your question on emule. I’ll let you know if I get a response. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/6 "2001-10-28T21:00:17Z")
Oh, hell. I know the poem you mean, but I haven’t a clue about the title or the author. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/7 "2001-10-29T00:51:51Z")
It’s just making me absolutely nuts. One other phrase I remember was something to the effect of “…shook a little, and rained a windrow ring of stones” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/8 "2001-10-29T18:24:34Z")
I think I’ve searched Google blind, and found nothing. Hell, I can’t even remember the name of the school textbook it was in. I’m almost to the point of calling the school I went to, and asking for someone in the literature department, just to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/9 "2001-11-14T19:34:07Z")
Okay, no takers? This is making me craaaaaazy! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/10 "2001-11-14T20:56:00Z")
:::pat, pat, pat::: There, there Mr. Cyn. Wish I could help you. Maybe Lib’s posting will get you a nibble. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/11 "2001-11-14T20:59:05Z")
Eek. Bad smilie. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/12 "2001-11-14T21:54:03Z")
Nope, sorry. No one at all responded. Could it be a false memory? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/13 "2001-11-14T22:44:03Z")
It’s “Casey at the Bat,” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. Except that those two lines you cite do not appear in the published version. (insert green grinning smiley here) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/14 "2001-11-14T23:53:54Z")
Definitely not a false memory, not at all. I even remember the picture that accompanied it in the textbook. I just cannot for the life of me remember the name of the textbook, nor the poem, nor the author. The mind IS the first thing to go, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/15 "2001-11-14T23:56:19Z")
Or not. Here’s the poem: > [@](#): > > Close-up - by A. R. Ammons > > Are all these stones > yours > I said > and the mountain > pleased > > but reluctant to > admit my praise could move it much > > shook a little > and rained a windrow ring of stones > to show > that it was so > > Stonefelled I got > up addled with dust > > and shook > myself > without much consequence > > Obviousely I said it doesn’t pay > to get too > close up to > greatness > > and the mountain friendless wept > and said > it couldn’t help > itself Located at [http://www.angelfire.com/la/dragonstarwoowoowoo/closeup.html](http://www.angelfire.com/la/dragonstarwoowoowoo/closeup.html) which apparently Google has never found in its life. Altavista picked it up with the phrase “and the mountain, friendless, wept” as the only hit. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/16 "2001-11-14T23:56:56Z")
You, sir, have saved my sanity 🙂 Thank you a hundred times over. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-poem-watch-this-thread-drop-like-a-rock/90121/17 "2001-11-15T00:01:47Z")
Consider it an early birthday present. 🙂