Explore "The Glory of Ruins (Wayfaring Psalms in Palestine)" by Henry Van Dyke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The lizard rested on the rock while I sat among the ruins, / And the pride of man was like a vision of the night.
Lo, the lords of the city have disappeared into darkness, / The ancient wilderness hath swallowed up all their work.
There is nothing left of the city but a heap of fragments; / The bones of a vessel broken by the storm.
Behold the waves of the desert wait hungrily for man's dwellings, / And the tides of desolation return upon his toil.
All that he hath painfully built up is shaken down in a moment, / The memory of his glory is buried beneath the billows of sand.
Then a voice said, Look again upon the ruins, / These broken arches have taught generations to build.
Moreover the name of this city shall be remembered, / For here a poor man spoke a word that shall not die.
This is the glory that is stronger than the desert; / God hath given eternity to the thought of man.