Sara Teasdale

From “Memories”

ATOMS as old as stars,

Mutation on mutation,

Millions and millions of cells

Dividing, yet still the same;

From air and changing earth,

From ancient Eastern rivers,

From turquoise tropic seas,

Unto myself I came.

My spirit, like my flesh,

Sprang from a thousand sources,

From cave-man, hunter and shepherd,

From Karnak, Cyprus, Rome;

The living thoughts in me

Spring from dead men and women

Forgotten time out of mind

And many as bubbles of foam.

Here for a moment’s space

Into the light out of darkness,

The many in one are mingled,

Finding words with my breath;

Like a great voice in me

I hear them shout: “Forever

Seek for Beauty—she only

Fights with man against death.”