sand
The sand, which will not hold the print of my foot,
Remembers, none the less,
Chaos,
The birth of stars,
And the sunken lines of sea-devoured continents.
It is the gray hair of earth,
Bleached and wave-beaten,
That has known the passionate rage of waters,
White heat of sun,
And the slow passing of a thousand thousand years.
Hortense Flexner, Clouds and Cobblestones : Poems (1920) : 3
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The papers of Hortense Flexner (1885-1963) are at the University of Louisville.
Collection overview, with brief bio and list of publications, here.
“Khaki,” another poem in the same volume, was posted by hypocrite-lecteur.
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I assembled a collection of all of Flexner’s books (and some other materials) ca 1978. Still have it. Must have been the combination of (1) a few good poems and (2) her obscurity notwithstanding the Yourcenar connection. Maybe there were other factors. So here we are.
sand.
tags: decomposition; memory; sand; waves
Hortense Flexner