Selling Summertime Sadness

A poem with a darker take on an old nursery rhyme

There’s something about summer that elicits a melancholic feeling. Thinking of the days spent at the beach, now long gone, is knowing you can never return to that moment, and maybe all you have to remember it by is some shells picked up on your adventure.

…And maybe Sally sold something more sorrowful than just pretty charms.

Sally sold seashells by the seashore

But what she didn’t tell you

Is that she sells summertime sadness

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Shells full of sorrow

Trinkets belonging to souls lost to the sea

The saltwater that chokes

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Is given from the cupped hands of a sea hag

Who knows the footprint-ridden land

All too well

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Who lures travelers to her wares

Unaware of the curse

She bestowed on them

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Something along the lines of yearning

For a place in time

You can never return to

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All you have is this sad seashell

Scented of either tears

Or maybe the sea

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And because you know I love a good mood board, I created one to accompany this poem. (All images were sourced via Pinterest.)

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