SAND DOLLAR DOVES

She cried cause the rain

Kept her a prisoner princess

While outside the waves

And the wet sand waited.

I could take no more

Of her tears, so

I placed a sand dollar

On the table in front of her.

I told her, “Break it.”

She didn’t move,

Just stared at me.

“Do it and you’ll free the doves.”

Reluctantly, because I insisted,

She pressed her thumbs

On the fragile shell’s center.

It shattered into pieces.

“Now look through

The small fragments,

Find the doves.” 

At first she refused.

“Please.” 

Finally, with her finger,

She spread the bits of shell

And examined them.

“There are no doves…no, wait.”

She held up a fragment of shell,

With a cracking voice whispered,

“It’s a dove.”

I smiled. “I know.  It’s your dove.”

“But all I did was break the shell.”

“My dear, what you did,

Freed that dove.”

Her tears now dry,

She no longer felt

Like a princess prisoner 

On a rainy day.