Memory Beach  

At weekends, on holidays, in all sorts of weather,

With buckets of upside-down sand we build castles,

And dig moats around them that fill up with sea.  



We gather dry starfish as brittle as biscuits,

Driftwood sandpapered and washed by the waves;

Pebbles, glass smooth, shaped by years in the ocean,

                     
                    
We ponder the rock pools and wonder of mermaids,

Tell tall tales of jellyfish stings and jump clear,

Dare to touch seaweed and dead crabs, so stinky,

Jabbing and jousting a snapped craggy claw.  


As pirates swashbuckling, we plunder dune islands,

Tumbling down gullies of hot windblown sand.

Playing cool cowboys and super Sioux Indians,

We slay mutant monsters until the day’s end.  


Back by the bay, the tide’s turning, waves breaking,

Invading the shoreline, the swell of the sea 

Floods moats; our fortress defences fall crumbling,

Collapsing sandcastles that sweep clean away. 

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