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George Will in his column today says:

Romney will be, in e.e. cummings' words "a recent footprint in the sand of was."

Does anyone know if that is an actual cummings' quote and if so, the source of it?

I can't find it.

Thanks.

andrewjackson wrote:George Will in his column today says:

Romney will be, in e.e. cummings' words "a recent footprint in the sand of was."

Does anyone know if that is an actual cummings' quote and if so, the source of it?

I can't find it.

Thanks.

Knowing George Will I would bet that it was from cummings' work. But I don't know where you can find it.

According to Google book search, that line appears on page 248 of Poems: 1923-1954 by e.e. cummings.

It seems to be the very end of the poem where it appears, because the next poem, which begins "sunset) edges become swiftly corners", is referred to in another book on poetry. I can only add two words to the quote:

... and tenderly a recent footprint in the sand of was)

Found this on a MySpace page, attributed to ee. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Its off the Internet.


Update: Nope, not ee.

Footprints

Four footprints in the sand
Waves washing to shore
The moon hiding behind fluorescent clouds
A star for wishing
Indentions in the sand of two people huddled close
Silence - and yet conversation
The chill of the wind blowing in from the sea
Lights on distant ships

Hands-
Holding
Touching
Caressing
The sun awakening across the horizon

Footprints
Four footprints running in the sand
As if tomorrow could never come

Laughter
A feeling of Happiness - deep inside
Living Life
Giving
Sharing

Tomorrow
Footprints
Two footprints in the sand
Searching
Remembering[/b]

plasticene wrote:According to Google book search, that line appears on page 248 of Poems: 1923-1954 by e.e. cummings.

It seems to be the very end of the poem where it appears, because the next poem, which begins "sunset) edges become swiftly corners", is referred to in another book on poetry. I can only add two words to the quote:

... and tenderly a recent footprint in the sand of was)

Thank you very much!

I'll see if I can track down the book and get the full poem.

Pretty darned obscure, even for the Master of Obfuscation himself!

Poem Hunter kept giving me question marks.

Looks like it is the last line of the poem "what is strictly fiercely and wholly dies".

andrewjackson wrote:Looks like it is the last line of the poem "what is strictly fiercely and wholly dies".

I thought that, too, based on the "table of contents", but since "sunset) edges become swiftly corners", which is definitely the name/first line of a poem, doesn't appear in the table of contents, I infer that "what is strictly fiercely and wholly dies" is simply the first line that appears on the page that contains the footprint line. It's very hard to tell what's what with cummings!

Wait, you're absolutely right. I just found a more complete table of contents, which you probably did too:

XXXV what is strictly fiercely and wholly dies
XXXVI sunset)edges become swiftly

cummings would've loved lolcats.

Here is the complete poem. I had to put it in Code to get the spacing right on that last parenthetical phrase.:
I can't seem to make it not be green. It shouldn't be green. That might be important to cummings.