We made sand castles

Waves slosh and slam against a shore

Dusted with sand castles

Moats dug around each one

As if that would prevent

Someone from getting inside…

 

But you and I

Are no longer concerned

With protecting fragile sand fortresses;

Our moat has overflowed,

Pouring its contents into cavities and orifices

Too weak to contain the ocean’s surge.

 

We made sand castles naively.

 

But I wanted us to hold

So I clung to you

Like sea weed to wet sand.

 

Had I known the tide

Would wash our castles away

Perhaps we never would have spent our days

Digging abysmal moats.

 

Do you think the tide knows

When to ebb in and out from the shoreline?

 

Because it happened on a perfect night

When I was collecting shells and sea glass

And you were busy tracing designs into the exterior.

 

No, this could not have been the work of the tides.

 

There must be places on the ocean floor

Where volcanic eruptions remain stagnant

But, nonetheless, have the potential to alter tidal waves.

 

When we made sand castles,

How did we miss the moment

When the ocean started to boil?