101 Poems, Number 45

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

45: “Eternity’s Orphans,” in That Little Something (2008), by Charles Simic (1938–)

Two lovers walk in moonlight—then

The clouds obscure the moon.

They move more slowly through the sand—

They hear the surf—and soon.

This poem’s full of images—

Like time (a watch, the sand).

It shows how love seems timeless—how

Here at the end of land—

The lovers recognize that all

They share will evanesce—

And so they clutch each other, for

Life’s span is but a guess.

Text of poem:

Eternity’s Orphans

One night you and I were walking.

The moon was so bright

We could see the path under the trees.

Then the clouds came and hid it

So we had to grope our way

Till we felt the sand under our bare feet,

And heard the pounding waves.

Do you remember telling me,

“Everything outside this moment is a lie”?

We were undressing in the dark

Right at the water’s edge

When I slipped the watch off my wrist

And without being seen or saying

Anything in reply, I threw it into the sea.

            —by Charles Simic (winner of 1990 Pulitzer Prize, former Poet Laureate of the United States)