CASTLE IN THE SAND

With the latest news of tragedies in the world isn’t it difficult to comprehend

How often sorrow touches the lives of our family or friends?

Yet it is preposterous to think in a world where every living thing must die

That sorrow will overlook us...will somehow pass us by.

Just as joy has the capacity to surprise so sorrow has the capacity to shock

The pendulum of life swings back and forth...at any hour of the clock.

In those inevitable moments when sorrow descends upon the land

It helps for me to envision it like a castle in the sand.

At the onset that castle built of sadness stands tall...seizing our full attention.

Life has slowed down and is now crowded with misery, fear and tension.

Our face which one time was awash in smile is now a constant frown

But soon our tears, like the ocean’s waves, begin to tear that castle down.

It happens ever so slowly leaving us to wonder if we can go on

Until the day we awake to find that castle is now gone.

We find we can be happy again, and though we’ll never be the same

Our sorrow has dissolved back into the sands from which it came.

Certainly sorrow has done her damage, causing torment, causing pain

And in her wake upon our heart a lasting scar remains.

But that scar not only reminds us of the sorrow we’ve been through

It also shows, no matter the pain, that we can heal too.

It shows we can survive...it shows we can withstand

That even the deepest sorrow will dissolve...like a castle in the sand.