Size / / /
If marble people were
the world, some of us
would strike others
with great force
so we could inhabit
a circle of power,
until we were caromed
away in turn by the
sudden force of another.
Others would stand
tall and straight,
far above the antics
of such childlike games.
Doric, Ionic, Corinthian,
upright and unyielding,
we would carry the weight
of the ages with style
and stoic indifference.
Yet the rare ones would
be those who endured
the brutal assault
of hammer and chisel
to emerge transformed,
revealing the inherent
grace that lies hidden
in the branching veins
of earthbound stone.