171 words

We All Fall Down

We all fall down. But some of us get back

Up. That’s the rub, isn’t it — that getting

Back up, because falling stops the attack

And laying down there makes sure the letting

Up continues. But to get back up, to

Stand up once we’ve hit that floor when we know

That if we just don’t move, if we don’t do

Much of anything again, we can go

Through life painlessly from there on in: we

Just have to stay down . . . And we might lay a few

Seconds on that hard floor, but we won’t be

There for long. We’ll get up. It’s what we do.

And what we always do and why we win

In the end. We get up again . . . again.

Ashes Ashes

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien

The ashes have started to smoulder

As the black sun has begun to dawn

As the new faith gives way to the older

And as we with the courage go on.