Penny Candles Poem by Brian Taylor

The Children of Light
mark out their stretch of beach
and claim as much of everything
as they can ever reach.

(See the white horses riding high
where sea touches the sky.)

The Children play,
the long, ever-day,
under an always-smiling Sun,
in Eternal Delight;
which the Children of Light call “fun”.

(See the white horses riding high
where sea touches the sky.)

They build them dens
of sand and shingle,
make new friends
and shiver and tingle,
hand in hand,
in their own new Never (Forever) land.

(See the white horses riding high
where sea touches the sky.)

And the green grey waters sidle by
and the rock pools start to fill.

“Build the walls higher still
to keep us safe and dry! ”

This is the way all Empires begin;
the Children of Light
keep the outside out
and the inside safely in.

(See the white horses riding high
where sea touches the sky.)

And the green grey waters sidle by
and the rock pools start to fill.

“Build the walls higher, higher still
to keep us safe and dry! ”

Soon they have walled them in
to keep out the sea (and the Light)
have used up the last of their candles
which kept everything (smokily) bright.

(See the white horses riding high
where sea touches the sky.)

And the green grey waters sidle by
and the rock pools start to fill.

“Build the walls higher.
Higher still
to keep us! ..”