a serpentine sand city
with one young girl
making adjustments and additions
to a creation that must have required
many hours and many workers.
she tending to the improvements
with focus and intention.
all around us
are mighty excavations
and marvelous achievements.
is a witnessing
of a second outpouring
of passionate digging
by the ocean’s edge.
undoubtedly many have contributed
to the building of these new sites,
but today all we see are young ones,
the children, seriously intent on doing
something,
something new,
something different.
there are deep holes,
basins, canyons,
continents and worlds
hollowed out
where it might be imagined
thousands,
maybe millions,
could be living.
would i want to take a chance
and live in one of them,
with everything to leave behind
and nothing to lose?
would you want to come with me
with a song in your heart
and a bounce to your step?
sting wrote:
when the world is running down
make the best of what’s still around.
how much time do we have left
to be composing, to be singing,
to be whirling ecstatically
as daring dervishes?
all the time
in the world…
all these stray thoughts going nowhere,
all these ancient travelers coming home.
