Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/468

THE GRANITE BOULDER OF THE BEACH.

Who could be sterner, colder,
Who could be grander, older,
Than I, the granite boulder,
 Monarch of beach and shore;
Colder than human coldness,
Older than human oldness,
Bolder than human boldness,
 Who was my peer before?

Born in an age chaotic,
Born to a throne despotic,
Breaker and rare exotic
 Tremble beneath my frown;
Resting from Nature's revel
Back in an age primeval
Who shall my grandeur level?
 Older than king or crown.

Brief are the generations,
Boastful and weak the nations
Time's mighty revelations
 'Graved on my armor cold,
Science with eyes far seeing,
Error ofttimes decreeing
Draws from my birth and being
 Fancies and facts untold.

Waves in their aimless revel,
Tossed up the glistening gravel
'Till a beach firm and level
 Lies at my broad, gray base;
Here happy children playing,
Here happy lovers straying,
To me their homage paying
 Gaze upward to my face.

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