She seized a stick and scrawled “I love you” in the sand.
He chose a boulder and sharpened his chisel.
All afternoon, he scored, hammered and chipped.
He called to her at last to present his reply.
By then, she had skipped away and the tide had erased her words.

Joanna Alexandra Norland’s plays, including Lizzy, Darcy and Jane, and Mothers Have Nine Lives, have been produced on four continents.