Stone Breaker

I chiseled away at my marble,

chipping off the faults they proclaimed,

carving the weird, the unworthy,

leaving veins of 'truth'

Fingerprints linger in the dust on the floor,

where the best remnants lay forgotten,

the shoes that were too goody,

the hips that were too round,

the laugh that was too loud,

the silly khaki-less fantasies tie-dyed

and woven with moonbeams.

I stood in galleries,

tying my approval to wanted 'yays'

but no one recognized the girl

who was still holding the hammer.

I sat beside her,

my hand upon the chasm,

where a heart should've burgeoned,

and felt only stone,

pining for her name within the dolomite.

The crows brought me a mirror,

reflecting the squareness I had tried to shape

from my hexagonal being,

edges missing, sanded down

to match the softness of the world.

'rebuild' they cawed

recementing, unhallowing,

letting the fractures bloom moss,

and the rough edges catch the light,

we are not meant to echo.

Let the gallery grow wild,

breaking through the sedimentary,

sparkling eternal agate

from the stardust of which we are made.