Saguaro

There they stand, like tin soldiers
Set up by a small boy
To pass the time – the long time it takes to grow up.
But he learned – as we all do –
That time doesn’t stop, but
Falls like snow, melting just as quickly.
Time waits for nobody – not even itself.
So the child grows up before he can play;
He heads the call of life, leaving behind his hopes and dreams,
Lying round the floor,
Dead without him to believe in them.
For he believed them into existence.
They fade out of reality;
But the tin soldiers remain --
Standing watch for the boy they love,
Waiting for him to return to them –
The last reminders of his lost innocence.