Pre-Existence

I laid me down upon the shore 
And dreamed a little space; 
I heard the great waves break and roar; 
The sun was on my face. 
 
My idle hands and fingers brown 
Played with the pebbles grey; 
The waves came up, the waves went down, 
Must thundering and gay. 
 
The pebbles, they were smooth and round 
And warm upon my hands, 
Like little people I had found 
Sitting among the sands. 
 
The grains of sand so shining-small 
Soft through my fingers ran; 
The sun shone down upon it all, 
And so my dream began: 
 
How all of this had been before: 
How ages far away 
I lay on some forgotten shore 
As here I lie today. 
 
The waves came shining up the sands, 
As here today they shine; 
And in my pre-Pelasgian hands 
The sand was warm and fine. 
 
I have forgotten whence I came, 
Or what my home might be, 
Or by what strange and savage name 
I called that thundering sea. 
 
I only know the sun shone down 
As still it shines today, 
And in my fingers long and brown 
The little pebbles lay.