CARVING A NAME
by: Horatio Alger (1832-1899)
- WROTE my name upon the sand,
- And trusted it would stand for aye;
- But, soon, alas! the refluent sea
- Had washed my feeble lines away.
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- I carved my name upon the wood,
- And, after years, returned again;
- I missed the shadow of the tree
- That stretched of old upon the plain.
- To solid marble next, my name
- I gave as a perpetual trust;
- An earthquake rent it to its base,
- And now it lies, o'erlaid with dust.
- All these have failed. In wiser mood
- I turn and ask myself, "What then?"
- If I would have my name endure,
- I'll write it on the hearts of men,
- In characters of living light,
- Of kindly deeds and actions wrought.
- And these, beyond the touch of time,
- Shall live immortal as my thought.
"Carving a Name" is reprinted from Grand'ther Baldwin's Thanksgiving. Horatio Alger. Boston: Loring, 1875. |
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