‘Building for Eternity’ by Richard D. Lackman The Society January 8, 2014 Humor, Poetry 4 Comments He looked all around him and saw monuments so vast Built with good intentions to endure and hold steadfast Awesome structures pointing up to heaven as to say Here is my creation and forever it will stay How he envied those whose makers surely had the skill And patience as their best ideas to form they did distill Castles with great towers and a moat so deep and wide Pyramids whose stature other structures did deride How this young builder yearned to be the one who would create That which wind and weather never could or would ablate And yet when all was done and evening closed another day My son laid down his bucket on the beach and walked away Richard Lackman is an orthopaedic cancer surgeon and poet. Featured Image: The east front of Warwick Castle from the outer court, painted by Canaletto in 1752. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. CODEC Stories:Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) 4 Responses Shyamal R Swamy January 9, 2014 Simple and well written. It was a relaxing read. 🙂 Love the ending. Reply Yolanda Marin-Parker January 9, 2014 Beautiful! Often a parent sees more in a child’s creativity than the child does. Reply Nestor N. Dzenchuo January 10, 2014 Building For Eternity is a beautiful piece, well thought out. It reveals timeless creations that have defied time and ages, as if the Divine was behind every of his thoughts. And, sure. Reply Dick Lackman January 11, 2014 I originally wrote it as a humorous poem but with an underlying meaning similar to Shelly’s “Ozimandias”. We think that what we do has such a lasting effect on the world and yet, in the order of things, what we do is as transient as a child building sand castles on a beach. Thanks for the comments. Dick Lackman Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Captcha loading...In order to pass the CAPTCHA please enable JavaScript. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Shyamal R Swamy January 9, 2014 Simple and well written. It was a relaxing read. 🙂 Love the ending. Reply
Yolanda Marin-Parker January 9, 2014 Beautiful! Often a parent sees more in a child’s creativity than the child does. Reply
Nestor N. Dzenchuo January 10, 2014 Building For Eternity is a beautiful piece, well thought out. It reveals timeless creations that have defied time and ages, as if the Divine was behind every of his thoughts. And, sure. Reply
Dick Lackman January 11, 2014 I originally wrote it as a humorous poem but with an underlying meaning similar to Shelly’s “Ozimandias”. We think that what we do has such a lasting effect on the world and yet, in the order of things, what we do is as transient as a child building sand castles on a beach. Thanks for the comments. Dick Lackman Reply
