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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MEMORABILIA by CALE YOUNG RICE

First Line: A MILLION YEARS AGO AND MEN WERE NOT
Last Line: AS ON THE NIGHT I WALKED ALONE BY THE SEA'S EDGE.
Subject(s): BEAUTY; DEATH; NIGHT; SEA; TIME; DEAD, THE; BEDTIME; OCEAN;

A million years ago and men were not,
A million years will go and perhaps we shall not be;
But I am glad to have seen Sanibel Light
Flash from under the dark silver arc of the sea
To the sands I walked one night from Little Marco Pass.

Nobody else will remember that night maybe,
For there are many sands in the world and many seas
And many lights and much darkness. . . .
But if there is any memory for men
In the days beyond death -- down the universe
Where the star-sands sift anew through the sieve of time --
The bent beam of Sanibel Light will still strike
From under the horizon into my heart,
Sword upon sword of soft beauty piercing me,
As on the night I walked alone by the sea's edge.



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