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Friday 16 August 2013

Teaching the Kids to Cheat


We took the kids to the beach for a week.
My brother, having lost his wife, came too.
We thought the kids might have a role to play,
and so they did, they played along just fine
and asked us for the biggest castle ever!

My brother found enormous chunks of flotsam
timbers of all sorts. We laid them on huge rocks
to hold the walls and towers high above
long rows of flimsy arches, gates and roads.
We'd been early to the beach that day and long

before the other children came, the timbers
were well covered by the sand. Kids gathered
to admire -- and to make pleas for castles
of their own like ours. We watched them all collapse --
until our two began to feel the guilt.

Finally, tears led them to the secret shown,
and queues of kids requesting photo-shoots --
posing in our castle grounds, and even on
the battlements. Then when the sea came in
all helped it lay siege to The Castle Cheat.

13 comments:

kaykuala said...

Playing sand castles is a way of discovery. The flotsam is sure to be a great help to hold the sand in its place. Good that they were together at the end. Nicely Dave!

Hank

Carl said...

Big and small themes in one beautifully crafted poem.

Jenny Woolf said...

What a gentle and wonderful way to present ideas about cheating and misleading. Lovely poem!

Brian Miller said...

ha. is it to cheat or is it to consider the foundation of your castle...and that is a metaphor they could def take from for some time....

Rachna Chhabria said...

Sand castles on the beach, sigh, makes me wish I was back in my childhood.

Mary said...

Wow, that really must have been SOME castle! What fun children (of all ages) have building castles!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

And they will remember that day for years to come Dave.

Tabor said...

Castles...some are built of sand and others of stronger stuff. good lesson for the kids. Perhaps a lesson in there for you?

Elephant's Child said...

Memories to hug to one self. And your memories, your brother's memories and the kids memories will all have a different angle - and the same validity.
I loved this Dave - thank you.

David Cranmer said...

Anything is legal as long as you don't get caught. Until the waves come.

Carol Steel said...

Powerful, poignant, real...and so touching.

Grace said...

Well building those big castles are a little tough so why not cheat a bit ` But then again the sea or nature has a way of exposing everything to bare ~ Good one Dave ~

kelvin s.m. said...

...ah, we can gather more lessons from the sea & the sands, indeed.... sometime in life we cheat for many reasons...to gain fame...to impress... to build friendship... to achieve happiness...etc... but then whatever good or bad reasons we have for doing so...at the end of the day... cheat is still cheat.....and all may fall & gone along with the sands scattered flat but the waving sea... maybe, a li'l more confidence & trust to oneself is still the best way to achieve fame, friendship, happiness and more and more... smiles... i really enjoyed this sir...thanks...