78 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS
All Are Architects of Fate
Aix are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time s
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme*
Nothing useless is or low ;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise
Time is with materials filled ;
Our todays and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build*
Truly shape and fashion these,
Leave no yawning gaps between ;
Think not, because no man sees.
Such things will remain unseen.
In the elder days of art
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part,
For the gods see everywhere.
Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen ;
Make the house where gods may dwell
Beautiful, entire, and clean,
Longfellow
In the Heart of a Friend
I SHOT an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its Eight*
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For who has sight so keen and strong
That it ean follow the Eight of song f
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke ;
And the song, from beginning to end,
again in the heart of a friend.
Longfellow