Twinkling tiny lights sparkle
In a backdrop of fragility;
A world in miniature, stupendous!

Tree-like ferns, wee mossy meadows;
Breathtaking, the surreal list!  It is
“A poem of stone, powered by stars,” 

Oh, the towering keep within a jar!

I’m so tired
Tired of falling
Falling in love
Falling apart

Falling to pieces
Falling down
Down a rabbit hole

A deep hole
Wholly deep
Diving into you

I come to you with a heart like glass.
You choose, the velvet box or the hammer.

"It is like a wildfire that you cannot stop",
Burning all around, you in the middle,
Until all is burned down.
You stand looking out, wondering
How you made it through,
Made it out only slightly singed.
Life is a wildfire that you cannot stop.

They lived a life in the dark shadow of slavery
And had become like the black cherries
They sneaked, so astringent they puckered the mouth.
They ate them, anyway, out of necessity.
Lizzie had said to Nat that she would wade
Through blood and tears for her freedom;
And, she did, they both did,

Nourished and aided by the kindness of strangers.
William Still conducted his railroad and with the withal, drive,
And the necessity of freedom, that basic human necessity, they ran.  
1857 was the year to run.  On June 10, 1858, Nat sent a letter
To the conductor: "Sir, be so kind as to . . ."
It contained a message to his family in Maryland,
"He and Lizzie were safe and free."

Give me one rose hour by hour
To build for me loves glorious tower
And turn this pain into a smile
Give of yourself un-beguiled

That I might trust love once again
Thus accept you more than mere friend
And make me know that all is truth
Having given the effort and the proof

Then this heart of mine you can rule

2nd version:
The Efforts
Give me one rose hour by hour
To build for me loves glorious tower
And turn this pain into a smile
Give of yourself un-beguiled

That I might trust love once again
Thus accept you more than mere friend
And make me know that all is truth
Having given the effort and the proof

Then this heart of mine you can rule
Show me your love will never decrease
For love became an unruly beast
O, diminish love not in the least

Do you see me age, in actual time,
Like some flashing overlays
In a time-lapse production video?

Time is ongoing, flashing forward
As though with the clicks of frames;
Line by line, wrinkle by wrinkle

Transposed onto my face.
The body begins to break down
Before our very eyes;

Shrinking in size, at first unnoticed.
Do not let me become diminished
When you look and choose to remember

The sum that amounted to me.