Time out of mind I have stood <br /> Fronting the frost and the sun, <br /> That the dream of the world might endure, <br /> And the goodly will be done. <br /> Did the hand of the builder guess, <br /> As he laid me stone by stone, <br /> A heart in the granite lurked, <br /> Patient and fond as his own? <br /> Lovers have leaned on me <br /> Under the summer moon, <br /> And mowers laughed in my shade <br /> In the harvest heat at noon. <br /> <br /> Children roving the fields <br /> With early flowers in spring, <br /> Old men turning to look, <br /> When they heard a blue-bird sing, <br /> <br /> Have seen me a thousand times <br /> Standing here in the sun, <br /> Yet never a moment dreamed <br /> Whose likeness they gazed upon. <br /> <br /> Ah, when will ye understand, <br /> Mortals who strive and plod,— <br /> Who rests on this old gray wall <br /> Lays a hand on the shoulder of God!<br /><br />Bliss Carman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-gray-wall/
