In the midst of a San Francisco storm

"They are gone now. Fled, banished in death or exile, lost, undone. Over the land sun and wind still move to burn and sway the trees, the grasses. No avatar, no scion, no vestige of that people remains. On the lips of the strange race that now dwells there their names are myth, legend, dust. "--pg246 The Orchard Keeper

The last paragraph of Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Orchard Keeper. Breath-taking not simply because of the aptness of leaving the readers with a landscape--which is a big part of the book. But notice the cadence of this last paragraph. It is like music.

They are gone now. (simple sentence) Fled, banished in death or exile, lost, undone (a motif of doubles: "Fled, banished" forms a pair, as does "in death or exile" followed by "lost, undone.") Over the land sun and wind still move to burn and sway the trees, the grasses. (This is a mix construction still in pairs of double, but the sentence is of three parts which foreshadows the sentence that would follow) No avatar, no scion, no vestige of that people remains. (motif of threes.) On the lips of the strange race that now dwells there their names are myth, legend, dust.