My thanks to the store clerk working the midnight shift
God bless the dishwashers at local restaurants laboring for minuscule pay
To the forklift operators moving freight for hours on end ,
to cleaning crews preparing offices for another day
For the plumber protecting health in the wee hours of
the morn
For sanitation workers hard at work well before dawn

A beautiful young woman
Lived alone on the shore
Having lost her husband
In a far off war

Yet everyday she smiled
And walked along the beach
Peering across the sea
To a place beyond reach

In her wistful gaze
Did she hear a shrill sound
And when she turned she saw
A child on the ground

A brown haired boy
Crying in the sand
She quickly ran over
Scooping him up in her hands

She hushed the child
Amd held him tight
As the sun began to set
Leading into the night

She said "Come little one
Listen to the sea
Hold my hand
And walk with me"

His parents had abandoned him
To run off far away
Leaving that poor child
On the shore that fateful day

And though she wasn't his mother
She loved and cared for that child
Who grew up healthy
To be tall, strong and wild

The time came when that child
Free, began to roam
And the woman only smiled
When he departed and left home

Now again she was alone
Yet always happy never sad
She had raised a beautiful son
Of that she could be glad

Years past and one spring day
The boy returned to that shore
With his lovely wife
And the child that she bore

Now she could not hold back
The tears welling in her eyes
Having been alone so long
This was quite a surprise

That boy she had raised
Who was now a man
Smiled back at her
And held out his hand

He said "Sweet mother
Let's listen to the sea
Hold my hand
And walk with me"