Classic Poem

We walked together on the sand:
The lazy tide was fretting;
The wind blew sweetly from the land;
The summer sun was setting.

Lonely and long the white beach lay
Beneath the sunset's flushing;
The breakers, near and far away,
All their white tumult hushing.

A cruel wreck upon the shore
Spoke of the storm's wild doing:
We dreamed no tempest evermore
Could blight our summer's wooing.

One star was trembling into light,
In that wide heaven showing;
One thought within our hearts that night
Exceeding sweet was growing.

We walked, and spoke as lovers will,
In voices hushed and tender,
Of hopes the future should fulfill,
Of blessings Heaven would render!

I walk the lonesome beach today:
The tide is still returning;
The fishing boats at anchor stay;
The sunset fires are burning.

But tides may ebb and tides may flow,
And breakers flash and thunder;
Unheeding of them all I know
He sleeps their tumult under.

He sleeps—nor sin nor aching age
Shall chill his youth's endeavor:
The years of God his heritage
Forever and forever.