Lantern in the Lee

Intro:
Welcome back to the shoreline. The sand may feel a little different beneath your feet today — shaped overnight by unseen currents, curved in ways you don’t remember. This place changes, as we do. But there are still lanterns waiting for us, here and there, to remind us we are not lost.

—Lantern in the Lee—

Sometimes the shore changes shape overnight.
The tide carries away the sand you thought was certain,
and you wake to find a new curve in the coast —
a hollow you’ve never seen, a path that bends elsewhere.

You could fight to build the same shoreline again.
Or you could walk the new edge and see what it holds.

Here, a lantern swings from a driftwood post.
It’s not to guide you back to what was,
but to mark where you can rest before deciding where to go next.

The light is small, but it stays warm in the saltwind.
It knows you will pause here,
and when you move on,
you’ll take its glow with you.

Outro:
Perhaps tomorrow this curve of sand will change again. That’s all right. The lantern is patient, and the shoreline is wide. There will always be another lee, another place to pause, another small flame to carry onward