Footprints

As a little girl I walked on the seashore
And turned around to see
My footprints on the wave-washed sand
And wondered how I would want them to be!

My feet grew long,round and pretty
And the ocean got smaller
Within the folds of my memory
And I measured my prints in Cold Despair
In Friendships, in Love and in Victory

A little Joy and then a little Sorrow
To check Euphoria with Anguish
A host of seashells to make a pretty anklet
And sometimes just a dead jellyfish

I made scores and I kept accounts
Of the Good, the Bad and the Surreal
Making my own mark on the sultry sea sand
Struggling with the Common and the Ideal

Now all the footprints are washed away
Into the waters where the Dolphins dive
But books that I kept as a curious child
Have blossomed into my Life