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Fragile Tower

Stone on stone, we build a fragile tower

each day reaching ever higher

a handful of mortar

and a block higher still.

For some, there is no standard size

the rock goes as it comes

others would choose the steady clay

bricks, small and regular

over dependence on fortune and opinion

for a shot at marble.

 

Some subscribe to elaborate design and

exacting execution,

while others enjoy spontaneous construction.

 

One scans the horizon

in vain for towers twin

yet even so, they are all the same

for one day not a stone

will lie upon the next.

 

© 1994 by Shelley Harrison
www.shelleyharrison.com