Castles of Sand and Stone

Thank you for indulging me in a poetic muse...the result of two trips: one to a Cape Cod beach and a second to Switzerland's Chateau de Chillon made famous by Lord Byron's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon.

Ocean greeted coast with noisy kisses
then dashed away, a shy lover
withdrawing from sandy cheek
into a crowd of waves and priestly rocks
escaping into the blue horizon

Low tide’s receding waves sculpted the shore—
damp dunes and sparkling pools
plumed with festive sprays of seaweed
and a garland of my footprints
draped indifferently across the sand

Meandering, humming, I drifted
wandering the shoreline expanse
until a collapsing sand castle
invited me to linger,
to remember a castle far away

A massive citadel by the sea
robed in ancient stone
capped in peaks and towers
she gazed across a shining glass lake
to majestic, snow-topped alps

Haunted by lives that once filled her halls
her rooms remembered
the births, banquets, battles and blood:
the price paid for her incarnation
the wars waged to keep her

Where royalty once dwelt
now a tourist booth stands
Cross the moat on her drawbridge
Gain entrance inside her once-guarded gates—
for a sum of Swiss francs

Centuries have come and gone at her doors:
years compiled of days
days made up of moments
filled with the living and passing of life
its joys and its sorrows

One castle made of sand
One of stone
The glory of each eroded
by time and circumstance
centuries and purpose

Song spilled out once more
Words replayed in mind
as Truth resounded in spirit
The tune I breathed on the beach I walked
I once sang in castle walls

Kings and kingdoms all pass away…
Kings and kingdoms all pass away…
And yet, God’s kingdom remains
How insignificant man’s trials and triumphs
How magnificent omniscient God.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. [Revelation 19:6]