What's O'Clock/The Sand Altar

by Amy Lowell

THE SAND ALTAR

With a red grain and a blue grain, placed in precisely the proper positions, I made a beautiful god, with plumes of yard-long feathers and a swivel eye.

And with a red grain and a blue grain, placed in precisely the proper positions, I made a dragon, with scaly wings and a curling, iniquitous tail.

Then I reflected:
  If, with the same materials, I can make both god and dragon, of what use is the higher mathematics?

Having said this, I went outdoors and stood under a tree and listened to the frogs singing their evening songs in the green darkness.