I Said in the Beginning

I said in the beginning, did I not? - Prophetic of the end, though unaware

How light you took me, ignorant that you thought

I spoke to see my breath upon the air:

If you walk east at daybreak from the town

To the cliff's foot, by climbing steadily

You cling at noon whence there is no way down

But to go toppling backward to the sea. And not for birds nor birds'-eggs, so they say, / But for a flower that in these fissures grows, / Forms have been seen to move throughout the day

Skyward; but what its name is no one knows.

'Tis said you find beside them on the sand

This flower, relinquished by the broken hand.