Tuesday, August 29, 2006

A lesson of life

It was his first trip to the beach,
He had felt the sand in between his little toes.
At first he was fearful of the waves,
But had just gathered courage to get close.

He couldn’t let this wonderful day end
Just because of some fading light.
Little though he was in body,
His heart was full of fight.

‘If I cannot stay here any longer,
Then the beach must come with me.
I will carry home all the sand, the water,
And create at home my own little sea.’

He then got down to work,
And began collecting the grains of sand,
But each time he closed his fist,
The grains just slipped out of his tiny hand.

He tried again and again
The same thing seemed to happen,
Still the falling grains of sand,
Couldn’t his little heart dampen.

For there was the matter of the ocean,
Immensely beautiful and serenely calm.
Surely it wouldn’t matter,
If he borrowed a little sea in his palm.

So he battled the waves,
The mighty ocean against his little feet.
But gracious as the ocean was in allowing him in,
Their thoughts did not seem to meet.

Each time he would fill his fist with ocean,
And each time it would come out dry.
With failure, his heart finally gave way,
And as his anguish increased, he began to cry.

His mother not once intervened,
She knew with love he would be fine,
And he would forever cherish,
The lesson taught by the sands of time.

Those tears would teach him
Something that he had to know.
That when you love something dearly,
You also need to learn to let go.

-Pranay Rao