I cannot, I think, build a great building of any kind,
To last a thousand years.
Not with these hands.

So I will try, in my own way,
To make something that lasts awhile.
I will try, I think,
To build a cathedral of words.

But that is too grand.

A cottage is more likely, with washing on the line.
A little home.
Simple meals.
A warm fire.
Happy kids.

A cottage of words.

May it last a little while and lend light to a few tired travelers, moving through whatever darkness,
This industrious world manufactures for them.

A cathedral of words? Perhaps that's too grand a spire.
But I, bold as a mouse,
Aspire.

So I will build what I can,
And let my children, when they are grey,
Say what it was.

-S.D. Smith

S.D. Smith is the author of the fantastic children's series The Green Ember, and can be found at https://sdsmith.net/ .