Sand Castles and Siren Songs
A journey from the shore to deep waters
This little heartfelt piece of poetry was inspired by Poppy's Prompts for February, which is linked at the end so you can join. Poppy gave several words to choose from, with the option of using one or all. Right away, "siren" and "sand castle" called out to me, and this poem was born.
I hope it sings to your heart today.
Sand Castles and Siren Songs
I see you, little girl,
Building parapets of sand,
Clutching tiny grains of hope
So blithely in your hands.
Flags composed of sticks and paper
Posted proudly in the breeze,
Calling innocence to tarry
And the hand of time to freeze.
~~~~~~~
But you never saw it coming –
Till its shadow struck your face
A wave came crashing on your kingdom,
Laying all your dreams to waste.
Salty tears in salty water
Mingled with the seagull’s cry,
For the best of your sandcastles
The water rose too high.
~~~~~~~
You don’t know me yet, dear child
But I know you and recall
Oh the agony I felt that day
To see the castle fall.
Those waves no longer scare me,
For among them now I dwell
I grew up to be the siren
Singing songs you know so well.
~~~~~~~
Now you dream about adventures,
And imagine foreign shores,
You yearn to see the deeper things
Beneath the boggy moors.
You still have many waves to meet,
Many mountains yet to climb,
You will learn to swim the oceans
One sand castle at a time.
~~~~~~~
The wave that brought you tears that day
Will come to seem so small,
You will learn to raise your voice against
The clamor of the squall.
You will call aloud your siren song
To shore up sinking hearts,
And someday build a castle
That no tide can tear apart.
~~~~~~~
Hold on to hope, I sing to you,
A note across the years.
You gaze beyond the waves and then
I watch you dry your tears.
Determined yet, you fill your fists
With mud and start again.
“The next one will be bigger.”
You whisper to the wind.
I shall keep singing over you,
So when the wave unravels,
You’ll still remember ocean dreams
Begin with small sand-castles.
An end...
but also...
a beginning
~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading! Now, go visit Poppy and create your own heart siren song.
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Comments (26)
Wow - Congrats on top story! Well deserved.
So well written! I love the eeriness of it. Really captivating!
Great work
What a beautiful and well written poem! Congrats on top story! 😍
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
I read this and fond memories of my childhood rise up in my mind. thank you for sharing this with us. Good luck with future projects.
Beautiful work.
So wonderful!
Beautiful!🥰
This is one of the most beautiful things I have read in a long while. Fantastic!
Superb work! Keep it up—congratulations!
Holy cow this was so good Holly!
This did not take long for them to recognize brilliant work when the my read it Back to say congratulations
Back to say congrats on a fine Top Story, Holly. Not surprised to see this one the main page, at all!
Beautiful!!!
Such a beautifully hopeful poem x So well crafted, gordeius!
Back to say WELL DONE and congrats on your T.S.!
Love this! I wrote a mermaid tale, Adrift, some while back. I'd love to think your siren went on to whisper in my ear. Beautiful, haunting work.
Holly, Absolutely mesmerizing in all the right ways. This brought out emotions I thought long bottled up. I am trying to pick a favourite line or phrase and cannot, they are perfect together.
Whoaaaa! This was so mindblowingly magical and mesmerising! So stunningly beautiful! I loved your poem so much! Hope you're doing well my friend. I was so happy to see your name in my notifications!
Well done! I love the rhythm of this one, as well as the message.
So beautiful and inspirational. I love this one.
Marvelous!!! Poignantly written & loved it!!!💕♥️♥️
Magically beautiful, filled with childhood dreams & fantasies carried forth into grownup realities filled with hope & promise.
I lingered on this bit: Calling innocence to tarry/And the hand of time to freeze ❤️