SANDCASTLES

You look into my face,
seeking, searching, inquiring,
with precious innocence
and youthful curiosity.
Waves crashing in the distance,
you ask if it's worthwhile.
In silent reverie
and patient voice I reply:
Build your castle,
O child of Light,
for nothing is eternal,
and beauty brief at best,
ultimately crumbled by the majestic
worldly undulations
of time and tide.
Therefore, create your illusion;
perchance evoke a smile,
for thus are the treasures
we find on this earth;
not buried ‘neath ancient,
mythic sands, nor guarded
by sirens, satyrs, or harpies,
but written upon the faces
of children.
Go now, for they await--
I await.
Walk boldly to the edge
of the earth, brave soul,
and mold the sands of time.

~Jillian Taylor

ON FORGOTTEN ANGELS

Fate grins wickedly
as we drink of her poisoned fountain
in this world, this land
of a million deaths.
Poesy is a drug which shrouds
the mind, allowing us to see
only what we seek to find
in this world of love,
and of hate,
of death,
and of life.
Still, we obligingly kiss
the leprous cheek of humanity
and call it fair.
We batter the angels' eyes
so that they cannot see
as we peel the gold leaf
from their wings
and use it to lay upearthly palaces,
leaving them broken,
flightless,
alone,
and forgotten.

~Jillian Taylor

LIFE IN A SINGLE BREATH….

The waves cover you gently, yet firmly,
and suck you out into an ancient sea.
Hold your breath and take my hand.
I see the fear in your eyes.
Do you know that I want to die with you?
For you?
Can you hear my heart cracking over the waves' crash
and the wind's roar?

~Jillian Taylor