The “sands run down into the glass” symbolize the passage of time and the briefness of life. If each grain of sand represents a second of life passing by through an hourglass, it’s easy to visualize time as finite. This symbol in the poem highlights that regardless of whether one is idle or works hard, time will pass, we will grow old, and we will die. Dunbar Nelson uses the symbol to ask the reader to consider their own choices while they are living.
