Sandcastles

 

While sifting through old photographs

Of childhood, black and white,

I came across a scene that stirred

My memory, overnight,

Three children by a sandcastle,

The finest ever made,

My sister, me and Hazel,

Made with bucket, and with spade,

With towers, crenellations

And surrounded by a moat,

The sand was dry, the tide was out

It stood there proud, remote.

 

Though sixty years have passed since then,

That camera shutter's sight

Caught just one random moment in

An afternoon's delight,

It froze that moment of our lives,

That castle on the sand,

And though the tide swept in that day

That castle, still it stands,

While we watched as the sands of time

Wrought havoc in our lives,

The moat we built could not protect

From husbands, or from wives.

 

The tide swept in and filled the moat,

The sides began to melt,

The water undermined the walls

And suddenly, they fell,

The love that we had built them with

Was washed right out to sea,

And left no sign of love behind,

For Hazel, Tess or me,

And then we learned the lesson

That our lives revolved around,

That nothing built will last unless

It's built on solid ground.

 

We spent our lives in dreaming

Building castles in the sand,

Believing that the tide would never turn

To wreck our plans,

We thought love was the answer

'Til discovering, too late,

That love swings on a pendulum,

The other end is hate,

And just as tides flow in and out

And level out the land,

The tides of life wreak havoc with

Our castles in the sand.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[B]

You brought tears to my eyes
I come from a family of three sisters and one brother
We build castles till this day and i am 31

I hope nothing washes away our solid grounds and our castles are not just built in sand

I couldn't ever bear departing from them
I have never loved anyone this much and never will

You are so beautiful with your words
Can't stop crying

[Mockingbird]

it's a good lesson to learn; that nothing can last unless built on solid ground. thus i think it takes for a lasting relationship. otherwise relationships will remain tenable. great poet.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Good write...you have some wonderful memories...

[Mauricio Montoya]

Great job well done.

[Sakshi]

These are like pearls of wisdom of a wise person!
Love it..

[Dr. Wood ?]

never a truer word...

[Cerise]

Gudnesss...it touched my heart..i was hooked...it reminded me of a poet who had written preety same on a photograph..but i don't remember his name..but i loved yours..its soo poignant and touching...the over all flow was fabulous..i dont have words to describe how good it was..am glad i got to read..:)

[Michael G.]

Congratulations, this piece, like many others, is excellent.

[Pratik]

Magnificent! There's no other word I find to describe it. Life can upset our plans. But we never stop dreaming. I read it somewhere that throughout the time we are alive we are battling with our lives, but at the end it is death that wins! Your poem conveys that harsh truth. The beginning and the end are just perfect. The finding of this old photograph compels you to fathom the realities of the world and how gracefully you turn the tone of the poem from descriptive to nostalgic and then philosophical. The flow is perfect and takes the readers along with it! SUPERB!

[.]

Beautiful story,David. This poem is amazing.

[Amila Jay]

An excellent poem. "love swings on a pendulum the other end is hate" - very true. Beautifully crafted :))