A Fragile Fortress: A Princess’ Tale
Let me tell of you castles I’m well informed on the subject After all, princesses know these things First, it’s quite difficult to build one It might take half a lifetime, maybe more They require extraordinary faith Though some say they’re worth it for the living in So I built a castle on the shore Of the master builder’s hand With more sand than you would ever need To build a million fragile castles strong Every day a new challenge though Sometimes the weather Sometimes the complicated plans that fall into the sea But somehow you never mind so much Knowing castles are their own reward Finally, one day you finish And find the fairy tales are right There is peace and prosperity In your kingdom by the sea And so your voice goes to the ocean As you sing thanks everyday Though all too soon you forget a bit That the nature of the sea Is governed by the rotation of things unseen The cycle that gives must take back again And that a sandcastle is not an easy place to live Perhaps a better place to dream And dream you do And slumbering Fail to hear the hand of the ocean reach out Rebuking your efforts into a dissolve And again your voice goes to the ocean Though now there’s no gladness in it You curse, as once you praised, your choice To live so close to creation’s embrace Faith, once so easy a companion Suddenly the hardest thing to find Just when you need it the most So you pray unceasingly for the return of the castle lost For a mercy never granted Or so it might seem to eyes Which only seek a vision of past glories Until one day, the wash around your feet Tickling along the edge of your toes Seems to hold a familiar faith And reaching down, you fill your hands And start for higher ground For living in sandcastles is what we do When peace is our reward.