Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARD HOUSES, by ANONYMOUS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARD HOUSES, by                    
First Line: My little niece and I - I read
Last Line: "yes, lizzie, build it up again."
Subject(s): Children;games;play; Childhood;recreation;pastimes;amusements


MY little niece and I -- I read
My Plato in my easy-chair;
And she was building on the floor
A pack of cards with wondrous care.

We worked in silence, but alas!
Among the cards a mighty spill,
And then the little ape exclaimed,
"Well! Such is life! Look, Uncle Will!"

I gave a start and dropped my book, --
It was the "Phaedo" I had read, --
A sympathetic current thrilled
Like lightning through my heart and head.

I eyed with curious awe the child,
The unconscious Sibyl, where she sat,
Whose thoughtless tongue could babble forth
Strange parables of life and fate.

Yet such is life! a Babel house,
A common doom hath tumbled all,
King, queen, and knave, and plain and trump, --
A motley crew in motley fall!

We rear our hopes, no Pharaoh's tomb,
Nor brass, could build so sure a name,
But, soon or late, a sad collapse,
And great the ruin of the same.

Ah, such is life! Oh, sad and strange
That love and wisdom so ordain!
Some ere the builder's hands have yet
One card against another lain;

Some when the house is tiny still;
Some when you've built a little more;
And some when patience hath achieved
A second, third, or higher floor.

Or should you win the topmost stage,
Yet is the strength but toil and pain --
And here the tiny voice rejoined,
"But I can build it up again."

My height of awe was reached. Can babes
Behold what reason scans in vain?
Ah, childhood is divine, I thought, --
Yes, Lizzie, build it up again.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net