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Changed Shoreline

The shore where once we played is now so neat,
A mass of pavers, brick walls and concrete;
No blade of grass, no rock, is out of place,
And joggers jog where children used to race.

Where gum trees stood and where rank grasses grew,
Now all is perfect, clean and bright and new,
With paths and painted walls and fairy lights,
It's paradise by day and darkest nights.

A seawall, and a narrow strip of sand,
Is all that separates the sea from land,
And when the tide comes up and swamps the beach,
Right to the wall the ocean's waters reach.

And then the sea sends forth its troops in waves,
To batter at the wall like willing slaves.
They strike it hard and search it for a fault,
And blow by blow these soldiers earn their salt.

And all the while does man these blows repel;
With rock and stone he seeks, the seas to quell,
As order fights against chaotic sea;
A war twixt man's and Nature's harmony.

And in the end we all know who will lose,
But still just for a while will mankind choose
To order this creation to his taste,
Until in time his works are worn to waste.

Copyright © Dennis N. O'Brien,2011 - 2012

poem by Dennis N. O'Brien
Added by Poetry Lover
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