We <br />That together hand in hand for company <br />Went <br />Went walking to the pebbly shore <br />Where caves and the waves resounded <br />Each to each <br />Lovers reciprocal <br />We <br />Went to seek wraiths and quaint company <br />The cries that rose half-mumbled from the sea <br />The words written on the wall <br />The liquid wall of the bosom of the sea: <br />We <br />Were there to hear tales, to be in fear <br />At every word, <br />At every sound, <br />There <br />There the sea and the caves resounded as <br />A bomb, as bombing: <br />And <br />There was the liquid mirror <br />Wherein we saw much human misery <br />Men, women walked in chains with <br />Arched backs bent heads and weary steps <br />They walked <br />They marched <br />They trudged <br />Yet once we saw most of them wearing <br />Tiaras and capes, smoke cigars, <br />Ply millionaire yachts – what? <br />They were too in the pages of history <br />And in the books, ancient engravings <br />And sullen living paintings. <br />Yes <br />We saw them. <br />Shuddered we. <br />We saw the level of the bosom of the sea <br />How at the end <br />All storms subside and all the waves <br />However high <br />Level and flat with their former lower fellows lie: <br />We saw there so much of humanity <br />So much <br />So much <br />And looking up we saw <br />Time sitting high on a cliff edge <br />Laughing.<br /><br />Emmanuel George Cefai<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/that-together-hand-in-hand-for-company/
