A sculpted man chiseled from stone
Standing witness by the ocean shore
As rock turns to sand with a sculptor's blows
Letters in sand dissolve when water flows
A sculptor’s tool and the beak of a gull
One meets rock and the other water
Beauty arises from jagged stone as fish from sea
Transient are they as writing on water
A prisoner decorates the wall of his prison
Gates are locked to freedom without
Unknown to him is freedom within
The keys are his when pen meets water
The mind lives in a fickle abode
Where daily travails leave impressions in stone
Languages differ but the story’s the same
Civilizations change but the mind does not
Be it a fort with mighty turrets
The mud when dry the castle crumbles
What glues sand, the fool knows not
Worshipping sand, he forgets time
Written on water without a trace
Map to the treasure lies in a mysterious place
Can a shadow exist without light
A man may ask
When rock and sand suffer nature’s blight
Only a fool would pity this plight
The writing’s on water, the wise would say
Nothing is more permanent, a sagely state
As birds climb to the clouds above
Man soars in the mind around
A natural order, one may say
But as transient as a cloudy day
A letter written about things to come
One who sees it writ on stone
Put their trust in shifting sand
Missing the waters of a peaceful lake
A piece of rock with etchings from time
Is a mystery that is visible to all
Perhaps a guiding light for a future to come
Rock turns into sand and not the other way around
Sandy coastlines change with lunar tide
A house on such sand would last not a day
Painting it is futile indeed
Yet we store our treasures within
Ripples of water carry messages afar
A cartographer’s aid for ages to come
Only seen by those who seek it out
A letter written in water hides the map
- N. Seshadri
