Classic Poem

Craftsmen, this lesson heed and keep,
Lay your foundations wide and deep!
When the appointed time had come,
And Israel from allotted home,
Came up, by Solomon's command,
To lay in state the corner stone,
And build the Temple high and grand,
Such as the Lord would crown and own,
The Monarch by a just decree
Thus set the law eternally:

" Lay your foundation deep, the fane
Will not eternally remain;
For tooth of time will gnaw its side
And foe deface its golden pride;
Pillar, pilaster, height, and base,
May mingle in the fout disgrace;
But with foundation deep and wise,
Other and nobler works may rise.
And till the earth in ruin fall
Some structure crown Moriah's wall. "
The people bowed obedient head;
Hiram, the Architect, began,
By long and wise experience led
(How sadly to our spirits come
The memories of the good man's doom!)
To justify the Monarch's plan.
From mighty quarries raised, the rock
In ashlars huge and weighty, drew;
See yet they rise upon the view
In spite of time and earthquake's shock!
Until there stood, as yet there stands,
The grandest pile of human hands;
A sure foundation , deep and wise,
On which the noblest works may rise.