He looked all around him and saw monuments so vast
Built with good intentions to endure and hold steadfast
Awesome structures pointing up to heaven as to say
Here is my creation and forever it will stay
How he envied those whose makers surely had the skill
And patience as their best ideas to form they did distill
Castles with great towers and a moat so deep and wide
Pyramids whose stature other structures did deride
How this young builder yearned to be the one who would create
That which wind and weather never could or would ablate
And yet when all was done and evening closed another day
My son laid down his bucket on the beach and walked away
Richard Lackman is an orthopaedic cancer surgeon and poet.
Featured Image: The east front of Warwick Castle from the outer court, painted by Canaletto in 1752.
Simple and well written.
It was a relaxing read. 🙂
Love the ending.
Beautiful! Often a parent sees more in a child’s creativity than the child does.
Building For Eternity is a beautiful piece, well thought out. It reveals timeless creations that have defied time and ages, as if the Divine was behind every of his thoughts. And, sure.
I originally wrote it as a humorous poem but with an underlying meaning similar to Shelly’s “Ozimandias”. We think that what we do has such a lasting effect on the world and yet, in the order of things, what we do is as transient as a child building sand castles on a beach.
Thanks for the comments.
Dick Lackman