a smile, a tear
each one a pulse of passing time,
beating relentlessly
and drifting like flotsam
on the ocean swell.
and mind only to
return to shore.
Where beachcombers linger
searching for the message
in the bottle that may
change their lives forever.
As grains of sand
whisk stubbornly
into barefoot toes
walking the path of life
leaving footprints in the sand
that becomes the keeper
of the hour.