2. PRE-EXISTEHCE
Reading edition
I laid me down upon the shore And dreamed a little space; I heard the great waves break and roar; The sun was on my face.
My idle hands and fingers brown Played with the pebbles grey; The waves came up, the waves went down, Most thundering and gay.
The pebbles, they were smooth and round And warm upon my hands, Like little people I had found Sitting among the sands.
The grains of sands so shining-small Soft through my fingers ran; The sun shone down upon it all, And so my dream began:
How all of this had been before; How ages far away I lay on some forgotten shore As here I lie to-day.
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The waves came shining up the sands, As here to-day they shine; And in my pre-pelasgian hands The sand was warm and fine.
I have forgotten whence I came, Or what my home might be, Or by what strange and savage name I called that thundering sea.
I only know the sun shone down As still it shines to-day, And in my fingers long and brown The little pebbles lay.
Frances Cornford.