SPQR

When Caesar strode out from the waves to this shore

With a Legion, their breastplates in line,

He came uninvited, his purpose was war

‘All this island,’ he said, ‘will be mine!’

He came as a messenger, bringing the claims

Of an Empire that wouldn’t hear ‘No!’

So I told Mirabel, as we danced on that beach,

It had happened a long time ago.

 

I’ve always been drawn by the sea’s winter show

And the sandhills, or cliffs tall and bleak,

As the westerlies blow, or when covered in snow

When the southerlies play hide and seek.

In summer the ripples are gentle and slow

As they eddy and swirl at low tide,

But winter sees waters that rage as they flow

To beat up on the barren Cliffside.

 

The sea is a mystery, second to none

In the depths and the deeps of its way,

The smell of the seaweed and tang of the salt

As it blows in my face with the spray,

I would walk at the headland by day or by night

And return by the way of the beach,

When the sky was still bright with a cumulus light

Or be louring, dark and oblique.

 

They said that my life had been ebbing away

From some sickness, they didn’t know why,

I had spent all my options, had nothing to say

But I knew I was going to die,

On this beach where the tide may well carry me out

With its flotsam, to weed-winding deeps,

Where the coral and starfish and conch they all lie

And the fairytale mermaid, she sleeps.

 

They said I’d have visions approaching the end

And I waited that day in despair,

My heart had been broken when Mirabel left

I had only one lock of her hair,

We had played in the shallows, kissed under the cliff

As the sun was beginning to set,

I last saw her swimming out there in the rip

And I called her, I’m calling her yet.

 

The sea became misty, and blurred to my view

But I’d swear it was dotted with sails,

The Spanish Armada, in some misted dew

While the sailors all clung to the rails,

Then Drake and his fire ships sailed in the beams

Of the rays of the sun, bleeding red,

And I watched as the history wrought in that bay

Came as images; danced in my head.

 

I prayed that my Mirabel send me a sign

That would tell she was waiting down there,

Would send me a messenger, up from the depths

Of that vast, imperturbable lair,

I promised I’d settle, would live out my time

If the message I plainly could see,

Then I’d wait for the ages to send me to rest,

I could live, if my soul was set free.

 

The sea became rancorous, beat on the shore

And the sky grumbled thunder unseen,

While the lightning crackled its anger to warn

Not to meddle with things that had been.

But Mirabel, heedless of time or the storm

Sent her message to me from afar,

As a line of ghost soldiers appeared on the shore

With their Standards of SPQR.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Tate Morgan]

Another great story. I think this one of the best the way it waxes and wains. The longing for the shore .The beauty of the ocean. The sadness of the coming end that each of us might face. Though as you say it is easier if someone waits on the other siode for you. So be that as it may I'd wish it for you and I. I hope it is not a trek into lonliness wandering the unpopulated shores of the future as marly did dragiing his chains. Perhaps we will get the chance to see in the end. I like Earth and can't imagine a place where man fits better. I can't say i want to die to find out the truth. I would like my spirit to lift from me and go to another sopul such as a grandgchild like me whop would enjoy the endless wonders of this world.

[David Scott]

Those shores have seen so much... You have shown them well in this write.
Enjoyable David. Thank you for this trip thru time.

[Sheila Kline]

Another stunning tale of intrigue my friend - one of so many that you gift to us here on the Cafe! I am honored to read it, to learn more of history, to understand the angst of this seafaring man and his search and desire for his darling Mirabel!
I am understanding she is believed to have drowned in the rip, and as he approached his death he continued to long for her, to believe she could send him a sign to save him from his impending death. That could not be, but in his delusion he saw the ships of Drake, he felt the storms of the Grim Reaper, and saw visions of ghost soldiers sent to rescue him from the door of death with their Standards of SPQR - the Romans who had always owned these shores, even in holding the souls of the dead!
The Senate and the People of Rome would never release their ownership of this land!!
This is a favorite of mine!!
Amazing, truly an amazing write!!

[Jack...]

Amazing and wonderfully written. As if I were sailing along the shoreline watching from the decks of a wayward ship. The meter was spot on and the story was captivating. You sir are an exceptional talent.

[Marie]

Somehow I take this to mean Mirabel had become a citizen, or even a ruler, of Rome.