I once tried crossing over
  a bridge that silence built

And for mile after mile
  the quiet maimed and killed

My speech was dumb and dormant
  as I bided all my time

In hope of passing through the cracks
   the exit doors unrhymed

My life dead on arrival
  till a voice inside decreed

To build a frame beneath that bridge
   —and set my meaning free

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)