As a child I sat & searched
For rubies in the sand
I looked for blood red garnets
From the dirt within my hand.

I would look for hours
For a treasure trove of lies
I thought I'd be a millionaire
I wasn't all that wise.

Then I found a nugget
Of pyrite buried there
It was really Fool's Gold
But I didn't care.

Childhood is fleeting
So don't break it to your babe
That her cup of "rubies"
Won't buy a pauper's grave.

She'll dream herself a castle
In some foreign land
But the waves of growing up
Take the rubies in the sand.

SoulSurvivor
Catherine Jarvis
1/22/2020