So It Went

So It Went

The sun shone its fiercest rays on her skin

Bit by bit she fashioned her castle, unleashing the imagination within

In the tropical heat and its painful glow

Rhythmic to the waves crashing high and low

She made a citadel raise out of the shore as majestic as she could

And headed over for more sand to build her world as she said she would

When a huge tide bellowed over it, backstabbing and cruel

Leaving a heap of remains, bringing her castle down to its last jewel

Though let down initially, the crash only strengthened her resolve

To build back what she’d made and lost in the dissolve

Bit by bit she rebuilt, now with ace and experience to embrown

Alas, the next big wave, mighty and merciless brought it down

And so it went, she ploughed on with erecting her structure

Undeterred and dedicated to every single fracture

The sea waves hitting her with the impermanence of life

And she replied with her human tenacity so rife

Compelled

Compelled by the wintry weather

We stayed in, the haven from the chill a tether

Walked along the corridor past the Christmas tree

Standing there lighting up the December spree

Compelled by the delicate décor so incandescent

With the radiance from the light subtle and ever so pleasant

Absorbing the inherent warmth it gave off

Loneliness replaced by compassionate comfort into which we morph

Compelled by a rustle, we discerned a diminutive life in there

Wriggling in there  somewhere

And there it was, a sweet little spider

All alone, spinning his web, an intricate thing he would embroider

Compelled by the tiny form of life making its poem

We let him be, named him Ted, now a part of our humble human-arachnid dome

Ted would sit tight everyday, sight of him making us pause a moment

For all, he gave us certainty until he wasn’t

Compelled by Ted’s impact, we left the shrine untouched

That must have brought home an even tinier one, Ted Jr, to who’s reassuring presence we clutched

And modestly the unmarred web spanned

Making us wonder while creating Ted’s own little hinterland

Scurry Of Movement

Walked down the street feeling all the weight in the world

Past the flurry of life, not really noticing

As my head head wandered where the burden unfurled

Thoughts brimmed in the mind clouding my vision

Unbeknownst of my way, I strayed

Strayed into the undergrowth floored with abscission

Heard a twig break and a scurry of movement

That tugged me back to reality

A tiny squirrel looked up, now with which my mind was confluent

Shone its beetle eyes on me, freeing the shackles in my gut and making me smile

Looked in my bag, found some food and a text message to get home

Five minutes more, I replied as I offered my little host a cranberry and sat down for a while

Life goes on and on without looking back to see if we're catching up

"And that was it. All this buildup to a great leap, and I didn't fall or fly. Instead I found myself back on the edge of the cliff, blinking, wondering if I'd ever jumped at all. It's not supposed to be like this."

The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen

As Time Went By

Five years it has been since we met

Five years that have passed by so quick

My friend and I, once a complete set

Alas, we have now drifted apart and distance between us a prick

Last memory I have of us is timeless

When we hunched over together, adoring the archaic watch

For all its sophistication had made it look priceless

Examined and turned the dials of our splendid catch

As time went by, five years it has been, and now we meet

We see each other and embrace

Something felt incongruous, something I couldn’t decipher in the time of a fleet

She looks exactly the same as she did on that day in that place

“Five years haven’t changed you a bit”, I say

Perplexity hints in her eyes

“Funny you count five hours as five years”, she quirks, plain as day

Bewilderment etches my face as I try to deliberate what this signifies

It dawns on me then

The archaic watch didn’t only show time after all

That day we turned the dials again and again

And now, it is in time that she and I haul