That Together Hand In Hand For Company Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

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