Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the
sand!
Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 
 Just as in  First Fig , the narrator has put herself in a position she enjoys now, but without regard for the future. On the other hand, she’s also making a kind of boast: her “palace” may be temporary or even illusory–may in fact be a sandcastle–but at least it has a “shining” visionary quality. (Compare the expression “castles in the air.”) The poem lands somewhere between self-celebration and self-satire: how close it is to either side depends on the reader’s interpretation.
Second Fig