Sometimes it seems that
I'm writing these words
on the sand,
like in that quaint picture,
"footprints in the sand."*
The wind is in my face...
Is this all there is?
Words that face as fast as I write them?
My words dry as sand
that blows in my face
blinding me?
If only I could get you to look
before my words are lost.
In my vision, on the sand,
there are no footprints...
As if I'd never come here,
and never written these words.
Or it never mattered
what I said,
you would not see...
you are not here to see.
You are gone,
like our footprints,
like my words.
Gone!
-----------------------------
* I saw somewhere a quaint picture that is intended to give us hope during hard times. Here is a little blurb that I found at https://www.ryanhart.org/footprints-in-the-sand/
'One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.
When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.
"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."'
If you continue reading on that page there is a sense of God carrying us during tough times and they use the metaphor of a good time like meeting the person we would come to love. However, real love isn't like some passing spark or like something we see fade away like a flame dies when the wax melts or the wood is consumed.
If God was with us and our beloved as we walked along a beach then there would be three sets of footprints.
I wonder about how to make sense of love and loss.
YOU ARE READING
What Matters Most: Poems About Love, Loss, & Trauma
PoetryThis is a collection of poems inspired by love, loss of love, and other events that began in late July of 2000. This is my autobiography in poetry form. It's not just about love but also about the loss of those I have loved. I had fallen totally and...
