A Name in the Sand
Alone I walked the ocean strand;
A pearly shell was in my hand:
I stooped and wrote upon the sand,
My name _ the year _ the day.
As onward from the spot I passed
One lingering look behind I cast,
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And washed my lines away.
And as methought ‘twill shortly be
With every mark on earth from me:
A wave of dark oblivion’s sea
Will sweep across the place
Where I have trod the sandy shore
Of Time, and been to be no more,
Of me _ my day_ the name I bore,
To leave nor track nor trace.
And You with Him who counts the sands,
And holds the waters in his hands
I know a lasting record stands
Inscribed against my name,
Of all this mortal part has wrought;
Of all this thinking soul has thought
And from these fleeting moments caught
For glory or for shame.
Hannah F. Gould.
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