Poems (Hoffman)/Cities in the Sand

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

CITIES IN THE SAND.

While the sun is gilding
 Sea and sky and land,
Little hands are building
 Cities in the sand.

Spire and dome and column,
 Rising high and grand,
Churches still and solemn
 Built of granite sand.

Shining streets and portals
 Wrought by brain and hand,
The conceits of mortals
 Builded in the sand.

Boldly o'er the gravel
 Come a noisy band,
Ah! They soon will level
 Cities in the sand.

Tossing, roaring, tumbling,
 Laughing, sporting and
Washing down and crumbling
 Cities in the sand.

Where are all the toilers?
 Where are they who planned
For the sportive spoilers
 Cities in the sand?

Gone from beach and boulder,
 Gone from bank and strand;
Waves than sunbeams colder
 Revel on the sand.

While the mad tide rages,
 I can understand
How the waves are—ages,
 And the cities—sand.

In the past are lying
 Ruins, wisely planned;
While the years are crying:
 "Cities in the sand."

While the sun is gilding
 Sea, and sky, and land,
Larger hands are building
 Cities in the sand.