Is it folly to think what we build will last,
Memorials and monuments, nations all?
The future comes for us and we become the past.
Hands held in prayer before the waves now cast.
We stand as silent witnesses beneath the storm.
On the beach I saw a thousand ships sail near!
Our destiny rolling in with the righteous tide.
Building empires that would last for a thousand years.
Never calling into question our own selfish pride.
So high was the rising tide, we just stood aside.
But truth is always blind when held fast by fear.
Alas, we acknowledge that those who led us lied,
Turning dreams into dust as the end draws near.
Mere tokens of our hubris before the fall,
Decency and compassion, honor all.