Ode to Sand
Trying to locate my college resume,
I comb my tower of applications
Until the ones I need to complete appear.
I fumble for my planner,
Frown at the next rogue wave
Of essays, projects, test dates,
Still hope to sail into a top university.
Though sometimes sad, I sink back
Into bed where I struggle to screen
Voices prodding me to excel.
I long to lie on the beach not the bed;
In soothing sunlight, inch by inch
Removing my stress, I would
Fill my palm with soft sand
Sliding between fingers,
Call each grain a survivor of storms
At sea for thousands of years
Until joining quintillions of other grains
Now creating this paradise.
So comes the epiphany:
If a miniscule grain of sand can face
Fierce seas to help form a utopia,
I can face my own challenges,
Minute by comparison to the triumph
Of just one speck of sand.
Thus rising, I revive my own journey.
About the Author: Christine Xu, age 16 in Silicon Valley, has had poems published nationwide including AZ’s The Avocet; IL’s WestWard Quarterly; and TX’s Lone Star. A 2019 publication in The Pangolin Review, Republic of Mauritius, made her an international poet. National awards came from California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. and two first places from the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition.
