PLAGA MUNDI
O PLAGA MUNDI—in all the world There is one beach where time is found: The black shale crumbles and time falls out And lies exposed to sun and sea The dinosaur from ancient eyes Watches the rout of night and day O plaga mundi—the world's wide shore.
O plaga mundi—of all this world Where ammonites, vast snails in stone, Once slowly moved and browsed upon Huge ferns and sea-weeds. Did they stand Great wheels and roll along the sand Or flat upon their sides swim by?
O plaga mundi—tht wOrld's wide shore.
O plaga mtmdi—in all that world We stood among those ancient rocks Those crumbling cliffs scaled to the sky, Those mud rocks shelved and slabbed, those smooth Boulders rounded by the sea And all time's fossils lived in us On plaga mundi—the world's wide shore.
O plaga mundi—in all the world No sun so bright, no sky, no sea So still and coiled and quiet, no stones So smooth and old—those ancient bones Made us more fragile, lost, alone On plaga mundi—the world's wide :hore.
SHEILA SHANNON:
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