All love that has not friendship for its base, <br />Is like a mansion built upon the sand. <br />Though brave its walls as any in the land, <br />And its tall turrets lift their heads in grace; <br />Though skillful and accomplished artists trace <br />Most beautiful designs on every hand, <br />And gleaming statues in dim niches stand, <br />And mountains play in some flow'r-hidden place: <br /> <br />Yet, when from the frowning east a sudden gust <br />Of adverse fate is blown, or sad rains fall <br />Day in, day out, against its yielding wall, <br />Lo! the fair structure crumbles to the dust. <br />Love, to endure life's sorrow and earth's woe, <br />Needs friendship's solid masonwork below.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/upon-the-sand/
