A PSALM AMONG THE RUINS
The lizard rested on the rock while I sat among the ruins;
And the pride of man was like a vision of the night.
Lo, the lords of the city have disappeared into darkness;
The ancient wilderness hath swallowed up all their work.
There is nothing left of the city but a heap of fragments;
The bones of a carcass that a wild beast hath devoured.
Behold the desert waiteth hungrily for man's dwellings;
Surely the tide of desolation returneth upon his toil.
All that he hath painfully lifted up is shaken down in a moment;
The memory of his glory is buried beneath the billows of sand.
[page 190] Then a voice said, Look again upon the ruins;
These broken arches have taught generations to build.
Moreover the name of this city shall be remembered;
Here a poor man spoke a word that shall not die.
This is the glory that is stronger than the desert;
For God hath given eternity to the thought of man.