I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand— How few!

The poem dramatizes the confusion felt by the narrator as he watches the important things in life slip away.

[1] Realizing he cannot hold on to even one grain of sand, he is led to his final question whether all things are just a dream.

[3] Another interpretation holds that the expression evokes an image derived from the 1848 finding of gold in California.

The next month, owner Frederick Gleason announced it could no longer pay for whatever articles or poems it published.