A Beach of Diamonds

This morning, as I walked the shore,

the beach was not as it was before.

It seemed the stars had fallen at night

and scattered themselves in the morning light.

I knelt and gathered a handful of sand,

and a thousand diamonds slipped through my hand

glittering briefly, then falling away.

Too beautiful, too fleeting, to stay.

And I thought of loves that had passed through me,

once held as tightly as they could be

how some things we treasure are never to keep,

only ours to remember,

when a river runs deep.

Sunlight spilled through the waking sky,

while ravens rode the currents high.

The water breathed softly against the shore,

polishing treasures forevermore.

Yesterday, driftwood.

Today, diamonds.

And I wondered how often we pass things by,

waiting for wonder to fall from the sky,

when perhaps the magic was always there

in ordinary places, everywhere.

This simple beach where each day I roam

had become a universe of its own.

Or perhaps it was I who had changed

Enough to understand

that life is much like that handful of sand:

loves, moments, years

slipping quietly through our fingers,

leaving behind only their shimmer.

And sometimes the stars

don't stay in the heavens.

Sometimes,

they fall at our feet

if only for a moment.