History lives on in fossilized bones; In memories, written chronicles, inscribed palm leaves. It whispers in crumbling buildings’ ancient eaves; But it also echoes in cobblestones. As I walk on these bricks with a pensive tread; I muse on the hundreds of people, now dead, Who walked and rode their horses over stones like these. Their steps echo in my heart, across the centuries. The light on the street seems to shine from the past… Beyond my future, it seems, the paving stones will last.

Paved street, Lacleade’s Landing, St.Louis, 020711