Am I the Only One?--By Zona Rowand Lawrence--United States

Am I the Only One?

I am but a grain of sand in the universe
standing alone in the setting sun.
As the waves come in to shore and reverse
I wonder – am I the only one?

Those who have gone before –
were they grains of sands like me?
Is it just me who longs for more
than standing beside the sea?

Sometimes I feel so very tall
capable and serene.
Then again, less than small
dreaming of faraway fields of green –

where I can go play some ball
with friends and foe alike --
laugh and giggle through the day,
dance and ride my bike.

There must be another place to stand –
perhaps in poetry and verse –
to be more than a grain of sand --
in our beautiful universe.

After many years as a stage performer, Zona found she enjoyed writing. She studies at Paradise Valley Community College.  Her work has appeared in several anthologies at the school and elsewhere. In 2004, she won $20,000.00 for her poem, “Indiscriminate Sestina.”  She and her husband, Jack, are creating a Diet by Poetry Journal to help whittle away those pounds with a little rhyming fun. Last year in the Paradise Review her poem, “If He Had Hit Me”, won third place and her one act play, “A Shaggy Dog Story”, won second place.