Trove

I watched my children quest the pools

Of wilted weed and barnacles

As stones were plucked from prior bed

Cavities again the water fed 

How merrily they hunted there

For some great awe to make them laugh

For that that’d soothe the thorny walk

Back up the cliffs to hearth

But as pinking sun met rising sea

And one grazed ankle begun to bleed

Another group of urchins came

Who appeared to have an urge to lead

They told my children verily that

There were only molluscs to be found

Amongst the waters that my children searched

In which they’d spent their light of day

And as I ushered my children home

The urchins found an honest zest

In pointing out a different quest

Now submerged in sea

But because I said we had to leave

They proposed a token trove

Alas it did not satisfy

And so my children’s day of joy

Of making search in clear cool pools

Did not make their laughter last

To soothe the thorny walk back up

The golden cliffs to hearth.

Show kindness to children’s efforts hence

For the very stones that we lift next

May not yield the final texts