Time out of mind I have stood <br /> <br />Fronting the frost and the sun, <br /> <br />That the dream of the world might endure, <br /> <br />And the goodly will be done. <br /> <br />Did the hand of the builder guess, <br /> <br />As he laid me stone by stone, <br /> <br />A heart in the granite lurked, <br /> <br />Patient and fond as his own? <br /> <br />Lovers have leaned on me <br /> <br />Under the summer moon, <br /> <br />And mowers laughed in my shade <br /> <br />In the harvest heat at noon. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Children roving the fields <br /> <br />With early flowers in spring, <br /> <br />Old men turning to look, <br /> <br />When they heard a blue-bird sing, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Have seen me a thousand times <br /> <br />Standing here in the sun, <br /> <br />Yet never a moment dreamed <br /> <br />Whose likeness they gazed upon. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Ah, when will ye understand, <br /> <br />Mortals who strive and plod,— <br /> <br />Who rests on this old gray wall <br /> <br />Lays a hand on the shoulder of God!<br /><br />Bliss William Carman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-gray-wall-2/