Root and Stone

Inspired by WB

Root conscripted stone in the fight against man
roiling tendrils and tender filaments
wrapped slowly, gently gracing the rough granite
the stoic crystal, the fragment of ancient bedrock.
Sinew and bone, and steel
struggled long, but was outdone
retired home towards the fading hearth.

A monument to victory still stands on that hill,
feeling the breeze, old, and coarse.
Root still holds stone in long embrace
The strength-blood of a hundred years
and the cold heir to a thousand
still bound in bright defiance.

But what is wrought in life,
life will undo it:
A hairline crack, a thread of water
and it is finished in an instant.

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