---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind…"
description: "\"Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands. We are less permanent than thought.\" — Basil Bunting"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png"
---

#  Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed…

![“Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands. We are less permanent than thought.” quote by Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png)

> “Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands. We are less permanent than thought.”

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Human existence is fleeting, reshaped by forces beyond control, like sand moved by wind.

**In simple terms:** Life is temporary and mutable.

Key Takeaway

Embrace impermanence.

Themes

mortality impermanence nature

Mood

somber reflective

Type

poetic philosophical

When to use this quote

- grief coping
- environmental awareness
- philosophical reflection

Key Concepts

poetry existentialism

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you find meaning amid transience?
- What anchors you when everything feels unstable?

A Different Perspective

May evoke nihilism.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Doom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doom/) [Silly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silly/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/)

## Related quotes

> [Heaped on the floor were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, bartrels of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/heaped-on-the-floor-were-turkeys-geese-game-poultry-brawn-great/)

[Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/)

> [“The danger of darkness is deep doom!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-danger-of-darkness-is-deep-doom/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [“She told herself that she was happy to meet her executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-maclean/she-told-herself-that-she-was-happy-to-meet-her-executioner/)

[Sarah MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-maclean/)

> [“Cathy, don't look so defeated. She was only trying to put us down again. Maybe nothing did work out right for her, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-c-andrews/cathy-don-t-look-so-defeated-she-was-only-trying-to-put-us-down-again/)

[V.C. Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-c-andrews/)

> [Seek for the Sword that was broken In Imladris it dwells; There shall be counsels taken Stronger than Morgul-spells. There shall be shown a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/seek-for-the-sword-that-was-broken-in-imladris-it-dwells-there-shall/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Social and cultural change, however desirable, should not be effected by the engines of national power. Let us, through persuasion and education, seek to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-goldwater/social-and-cultural-change-however-desirable-should-not-be-effected/)

[Barry Goldwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-goldwater/)

> [Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blunkett/politics-is-about-the-participation-and-engagement-of-the-wider/)

[David Blunkett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blunkett/)

> [For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/for-scotland-has-a-double-dose-of-the-poison-called-heredity-the/)

[Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/)

> [When there's doom and gloom, don't forget there's darkness before dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakesh-jhunjhunwala/when-there-s-doom-and-gloom-don-t-forget-there-s-darkness-before-dawn/)

[Rakesh Jhunjhunwala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakesh-jhunjhunwala/)

> [Forget the noose. Forget the Iron Maiden. Forget the electric chair or the guillotine. The mind was mankind's most painful torture chamber, the blessed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffanie-debartolo/forget-the-noose-forget-the-iron-maiden-forget-the-electric-chair-or/)

[Tiffanie DeBartolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffanie-debartolo/)

> [Early on a difficult climb, especially a solo climb, you’re hyper-aware of the abyss pulling at your back, constantly feeling its call, its immense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-krakauer/early-on-a-difficult-climb-especially-a-solo-climb-you-re-hyper-aware/)

[Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-krakauer/)

> [It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/it-is-easy-enough-to-say-that-man-is-immortal-simply-because-he-will/)

[William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/)

> [Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/fate-with-impartial-hand-turns-out-the-doom-of-high-and-low-her/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [... War on the destiny of man! Doom on the sun! Before death takes you, O take back this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/war-on-the-destiny-of-man-doom-on-the-sun-before-death-takes-you-o/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/)

[Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/)

## More by Basil Bunting

> [“Poet appointed dare not decline to walk among the bogus...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/poet-appointed-dare-not-decline-to-walk-among-the-bogus/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [“The mason stirs. Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/the-mason-stirs-words-pens-are-too-light-take-a-chisel-to-write/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [The times are squalid. They always were. It is a poet's duty to hold the line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/the-times-are-squalid-they-always-were-it-is-a-poet-s-duty-to-hold/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Always carry a corkscrew and the wine shall provide itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/always-carry-a-corkscrew-and-the-wine-shall-provide-itself/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [But their determination to banish fools foundered ultimately in the installation of absolute idiots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/but-their-determination-to-banish-fools-foundered-ultimately-in-the/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [All you can usually say about a poem or a picture is, 'Look at it, listen to it.' Whether you listen to a piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/all-you-can-usually-say-about-a-poem-or-a-picture-is-look-at-it/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [“It tastes good, garlic and salt in it, with the half-sweet white wine of Orvieto on scanty grass under great trees where the ramparts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/it-tastes-good-garlic-and-salt-in-it-with-the-half-sweet-white-wine/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Praise the green earth. Chance has appointed her home, workshop, larder, middenpit. Her lousy skin scabbed here and there by cities provides us with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/praise-the-green-earth-chance-has-appointed-her-home-workshop-larder/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [The mystic purchases a moment of exhilaration with a lifetime of confusion; and the confusion is infectious and destructive. It is confusing and destructive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/the-mystic-purchases-a-moment-of-exhilaration-with-a-lifetime-of/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [To appreciate present conditions, collate them with those of antiquity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/to-appreciate-present-conditions-collate-them-with-those-of-antiquity/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Whether you listen to a piece of music, or a poem, or look at a picture or a jug, or a piece of sculpture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/whether-you-listen-to-a-piece-of-music-or-a-poem-or-look-at-a-picture/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Compose aloud: poetry is a sound. Never explain- your reader is as smart as you. Your reader is not just any reader, but is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/compose-aloud-poetry-is-a-sound-never-explain-your-reader-is-as-smart/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Can a moment of madness make up for an age of consent?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/can-a-moment-of-madness-make-up-for-an-age-of-consent/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [Name and date split in soft slate a few months obliterate. 166](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/name-and-date-split-in-soft-slate-a-few-months-obliterate-166/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

> [“...and always the cutting out and the buggering about and the buggering about and the rewriting and so on...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/and-always-the-cutting-out-and-the-buggering-about-and-the-buggering/)

[Basil Bunting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

[Explore all 20 Basil Bunting quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/)

## More Doom quotes

> [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/)

[Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/)

> [... War on the destiny of man! Doom on the sun! Before death takes you, O take back this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/war-on-the-destiny-of-man-doom-on-the-sun-before-death-takes-you-o/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/fate-with-impartial-hand-turns-out-the-doom-of-high-and-low-her/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/it-is-easy-enough-to-say-that-man-is-immortal-simply-because-he-will/)

[William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/)

> [Early on a difficult climb, especially a solo climb, you’re hyper-aware of the abyss pulling at your back, constantly feeling its call, its immense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-krakauer/early-on-a-difficult-climb-especially-a-solo-climb-you-re-hyper-aware/)

[Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-krakauer/)

> [Forget the noose. Forget the Iron Maiden. Forget the electric chair or the guillotine. The mind was mankind's most painful torture chamber, the blessed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffanie-debartolo/forget-the-noose-forget-the-iron-maiden-forget-the-electric-chair-or/)

[Tiffanie DeBartolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffanie-debartolo/)

> [When there's doom and gloom, don't forget there's darkness before dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakesh-jhunjhunwala/when-there-s-doom-and-gloom-don-t-forget-there-s-darkness-before-dawn/)

[Rakesh Jhunjhunwala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakesh-jhunjhunwala/)

> [For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/for-scotland-has-a-double-dose-of-the-poison-called-heredity-the/)

[Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/)

> [Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blunkett/politics-is-about-the-participation-and-engagement-of-the-wider/)

[David Blunkett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blunkett/)

> [Social and cultural change, however desirable, should not be effected by the engines of national power. Let us, through persuasion and education, seek to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-goldwater/social-and-cultural-change-however-desirable-should-not-be-effected/)

[Barry Goldwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-goldwater/)

> [Seek for the Sword that was broken In Imladris it dwells; There shall be counsels taken Stronger than Morgul-spells. There shall be shown a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/seek-for-the-sword-that-was-broken-in-imladris-it-dwells-there-shall/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“Cathy, don't look so defeated. She was only trying to put us down again. Maybe nothing did work out right for her, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-c-andrews/cathy-don-t-look-so-defeated-she-was-only-trying-to-put-us-down-again/)

[V.C. Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-c-andrews/)

> [“She told herself that she was happy to meet her executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-maclean/she-told-herself-that-she-was-happy-to-meet-her-executioner/)

[Sarah MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-maclean/)

> [“The danger of darkness is deep doom!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-danger-of-darkness-is-deep-doom/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [There is the extreme of hopelessness and the inevitability of doom, a deep despair that comes from the sense that our industrial, consuming society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/there-is-the-extreme-of-hopelessness-and-the-inevitability-of-doom-a/)

[Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/)

[Browse all 501 Doom quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doom/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands. We are less permanent than thought.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Basil Bunting"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-heaped-up-smoothed-down-like/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Doom"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-heaped-up-smoothed-down-like/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/basil-bunting-27261_doom_our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-hea_2977732.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Our doom is, to be sifted by the wind, heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands. We are less permanent than…” — Basil Bunting",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Basil Bunting",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basil-bunting/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Our doom is, to be sifted...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-heaped-up-smoothed-down-like/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basil-bunting/our-doom-is-to-be-sifted-by-the-wind-heaped-up-smoothed-down-like/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```