And the Rains Descended and the Floods Came.

NOW the far waves roll nearer and more near, / The wind's awake, the pitiless wind's awake, / It shrieks the menace that I dare not hear, / Soon at my feet the angry waves will break / In desolating wrath -- and here I stand / Helpless my house is built upon the sand.

O you, whose house upon a rock is set, / Laugh, safe and sure, at threatening wave and wind.

You chose the better part and yet -- and yet, / There was no other ground that I could find, / And I was weary and I longed to raise / A house to guard my shivering nights and days.

And it was pleasant in the house I made, / While still the floods and winds were held asleep.

I blessed it at the dawn, at night I prayed / As though its dear foundations had been deep / Sunk in the rock. I whispered in surmise, / "What if winds never wake, floods never rise?"

And now the waves are near and very near, / And here I wait and wonder which may be / The wave in which my house will disappear, / My little house that loved and sheltered me, / Where joy still sings, her garland in her hand, / Built on the sand, oh God, built on the sand!