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% Typeset 8th January 2020
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\documentclass[english]{article}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage{a4,babel,newpxtext}
\usepackage[nonotes]{poem}
\setcounter{poemchunksize}{200}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
\begin{poem}
\title{The Game of Ithaky’s Children}
\stanza*
O! In another time they play\\
A tribe of children with the sea\\
They play the games I’m sure you know\\
Their names are Bee, Dee, Ell and Vee.\\

\stanza*
The sky shines bright, the waves run dark\\
A breeze blows gently from the sea\\
The children idly floating now\\
As it is nearly time for tea.\\

\stanza*
Suddenly, Dee spies a red sail\\
And shouts “Look, there, blood on the sea!”\\
Then Ell cries, “Look, the hill’s on fire!”\\
And, “Something’s badly wrong!” yells Bee.\\

\stanza*
“We’ve got to help!” Dee tells the rest\\
“We’ve got to run!” groans anxious Bee\\
“We’ve got to hide!” snaps Ell, “Come on!”\\
And so they all swim out to sea.\\

\stanza*
They swim towards their secret cave\\
You have to enter from the sea\\
Where once the Wanderer hid his hoard\\
When he returned to Ithaky.\\

\stanza*
When they were small the elders taught\\
“Should you see blood upon the sea\\
“And fire upon the hill, then hide!\\
“Don’t tell us where, then safe you’ll be!”\\

\stanza*
They crawl inside, wet, cold and tired\\
Huddle together silently\\
And wait until the sun has set\\
Then in the dark come out to see:\\

\stanza*
The fire has gone out on the land\\
The sail has vanished from the sea\\
The children, scared, in silence stand\\
Until at last Ell asks, “where’s Vee?”\\
\pagebreak

\stanza*
They climb the black bare hill, the Three\\
They creep across the ruined land\\
They stare at sights no-one should see\\
They stand shocked speechless, hand in hand.\\

\stanza*
The see no-one, they see no thing\\
They are alone, the little band\\
They reach the palace yard; Dee says:\\
“We have to play the Game of Sand.”\\

\stanza*
Until you’ve played the Game it is\\
Impossible to understand\\
The children went down to the shore\\
And played all night with waves and sand.\\

\stanza*
And when the sun rose, as it does\\
They all slept, lying on the sand,\\
They woke and stretched, and then they said:\\
“We must play on together,” and…\\

\stanza*
And so they played the hardest game:\\
A hundred years alone and banned\\
From leaving Ithaky, regrow\\
From nothing but sea and bare land.\\

\stanza*
Each fish a flock, each child a clan\\
Each act foreseen, each minute planned\\
No room for labour—only play\\
Of each with all could death withstand.\\

\stanza*
All that the new Ithakians had\\
Was infinite potential and\\
Unbound freedom to play it out\\
No gods, no chiefs to take in hand.\\

\stanza*
It is now many years ago\\
The children played where sea meets land\\
And did not finish; so it is\\
That we now play the Game of Sand.\\

\author{Reuben Thomas}
\poemdate{8th January 2020}
\end{poem}
\begin{notes}
  Started during Midnight Mass, Christmas Eve 2019 (first 8 stanzas; I wrote the next four during mass the next morning).
\end{notes}
\end{document}
