Sylvia Plath

Words

Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings,
And the echoes!
Echoes traveling
Off from the center like horses.

The sap
Wells like tears, like the
Water striving
To re-establish its mirror
Over the rock

That drops and turns,
A white skull,
Eaten by weedy greens.
Years later I
Encounter them on the road---

Words dry and riderless,
The indefatigable hoof-taps.
While
From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life.

The imagery of the axe and the horses is very pretty . The auditory as well as visual elements are beautifully fused to re-create an experience . "From the bottom of the pool fixed stars govern a life" apparently refers to the stars , reflected by the pool, guiding the poet's destiny which is immutable. The poem is intensely autobiographical. The poet has just undergone the tragedy of her father's death as well as the turbulence of a failed marriage with Ted Hughes .The poem is naturally about the power of words, the destructive power of words.