Building Castles.
Building castles ! April gleams1
Flickering round the fairy dreams,2
That fling a halo rare and rich3
Where, in fancy’s fairest niche,4
Eager hands of happy youth5
Raise a shrine to Love and Truth.6
Not a cloudlet in the sky,7
Not a cold breeze rushing by ;8
No touch of fear, no stain of guilt,9
In the castles that we built.10
Building castles ! August’s sun11
Lit us ere our work was done ;12
Glad and glorious in the strength13
That the noonday wins at length,14
When the fitful morning light15
Steadies in its perfect height ;16
When the joyous hope is crowned ;17
When the trust its rest has found ;18
The full cup no drop had spilt19
In the castle that we built.20
Building castles ! Wind and snow21
Sweep the plains of long ago ;22
Over many a tended grave23
Rise the fragments that we save24
From the ruins of the past,25
To raise the shrine that is our last ;26
To guard kind memory’s tender tear27
For the few that love us here.28
“ Not as we will, but as Thou wilt,”29
For the last castle life has built.30