Sandboxes

Little girl, cute and pleasing

wonders why

Daddy isn't home

again tonight.

Once more, she

battles darkness,

fighting back

the pain.

In time, a pretty pleasant woman.

Self-reliant, 

alone.

Light giver,

demon destroyer.

Stronger than the men she knows.

The pain remains.

"Where are you?"

Now, this lovely gracious lady

drinks her coffee from a particular mug,

packs her lunch box and bag of rocks,

sings along with a popular song,

fingers her chain...

And knows.

Punchline

You cannot recover the past,

neither can you make it last.

It fades away like the hill you climbed--

to face the mountain behind.

Youth--the constant butt of a practical joke.

Face flaming red with frustration,

stands before the placid cold magistrate, who says,

"You'll be alright, son. Things are not as they seem."

Things are not as they seem???

Oh no! Black and white are really gray,

gravity and time are only relative,

all depending on your point of view.

So, with uncertain stumbling steps,

led by misty distracted eyes,

you come across your own headstone,

on it engraved the old punch line:

"Things are not as they seem--

things are as they seem."

But you cannot recall the past.

You can barely even remember.

As I consider this in an afterglow,

It is the saddest fact of life I know.

@Phillip Larrea