| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 54. A Name in the Sand |
| | | By Hannah Flagg Gould |
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| ALONE I walked the ocean strand; | |
| A pearly shell was in my hand: | |
| I stooped and wrote upon the sand | |
| My name—the year—the day. | |
| As onward from the spot I passed, | 5 |
| One lingering look behind I cast; | |
| A wave came rolling high and fast, | |
| And washed my lines away. | |
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| And so, methought, ’t will shortly be | |
| With every mark on earth from me: | 10 |
| A wave of dark oblivion’s sea | |
| Will sweep across the place | |
| Where I have trod the sandy shore | |
| Of time, and been, to be no more, | |
| Of me—my day—the name I bore, | 15 |
| To leave nor track nor trace. | |
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| And yet, with Him who counts the sands | |
| And holds the waters in his hands, | |
| I know a lasting record stands | |
| Inscribed against my name, | 20 |
| Of all this mortal part has wrought, | |
| Of all this thinking soul has thought, | |
| And from these fleeting moments caught | |
| For glory or for shame. | |
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