SANDCASTLES

I first stared into your eyes
As the waves rolled upon the beach.
And I wanted so to hold you,
But you were just beyond my reach.
So just as children build sand castles,
For fear I built walls around my heart.
Yet as waves wear at the towers,
Your love pulled my walls apart.
Like time and tide do to castles,
Take a devastating toll.
So did your life, my fortress,
As your love consumed my soul.

But ancient hurts and painful memories
Haunted the castles of my heart.
So each time you tore the turrets down,
The building would restart.
I tried to give to you my love
As freely as the sea brings life to land,
But every time you came too close,
I was attacked by fears I could not understand.

So up went the walls to hold you at bay.
   And out came the archers, cruel words to push you away.
      On went the armor to keep my feelings concealed.
         And the guards of silence hid thoughts I should have revealed.
      Against whom?
         Some terrible marauding foe?
   No, I built my battlements
      Against the one I wanted most to know.

So my love was the king held prisoner
Within her own castle's walls.
And whe screamed for you to rescue her,
But evil fears disguised her calls.
And still she cries out to you
As a sea of fears drowns her deep inside.
And as the sand castle walls slowly smother her,
She knows there is no safe place left to hide.

In time our flesh again becomes sand,
And our blood, the waters of the sea.
And I hope somewhere in the heavens
Your love will again touch the soul of me.
When you walk along that beach someday,
And the sand presses against your feet,
Will your heart be reminded of my touch,
And memories bittersweet?
And as the mist settles upon your lips
Sometime in later years,
I pray to God you'll recognize,
That taste is still my tears.