O steadfast dweller on the selfsame spot

Where thou wast born, that still repinest not—

Type of the home-fond heart, the happy lot!—

Deeply thy mild content rebukes the land

Whose flimsy homes, built on the shifting sand

Of trade, for ever rise and fall

With alternation whimsical,

Enduring scarce a day,

Then swept away

By swift engulfments of incalculable tides