Planing the figure sand

“Smooth between sea and land
Is laid the yellow sand,
And here through summer days
The seed of Adam plays.

Here the child comes to found
His unremaining mound,
And the grown lad to score
Two names upon the shore.

Here, on the level sand,
Between the sea and land,
What shall I build or write
Against the fall of night?”

Sunday Sayings – Extract from A. E. Housman ~ ‘Smooth between sea and sand’ – posthumous publication