Sandcastle Heart

Sandcastles by the seashore I build them No more. Dreams are too frail to stop the sea Of brokenhearts and misery; the gem Of faith is love, but man is vanity. We had no shelter from the brimming sun No custardapple leaf to shade or stun The blueprint of our lives to come. But wet Bucket after bucket we built and sweat. Then rose the tides, and white tongues of waves kiss The granite lips of golden sands. The dream fell. Water stripped and naked as morning mist We lost castle and love where waters swell. All that legacy of vintage rooms, realms Of chambers where the gaudy heart broke stems Of fragile spears, but for life no defence Against time ravages and common sense. The winds of doubt blew first upon our love And dry sands billowed and grit the green eye Then seas salt tongue sucked the land; clouds above In blue frame froze, no parlour there to lie Wave washed, wind swept by the coming storm. We Built frail our destiny - some spiral sea Of sand; shredded joy! Sand castles won't store The mansion carved in dreams upon the shore. All this since my heart spaded your thoughts full Hugging grief in each scooped battlement. Waves subsided late; the moat tower pull Drawbridge tight with tedious argument. Love is immortal, but men only dust Sorrow is the mold of our dwindled trust Castle and sand dune bitten, blown apart Sand castles on the shore clocks the grieved heart. By David Smalling