The Stonecarver
Tap Tap Tap.
An arm emerges from the stone,
A hand,
A head.
Legs shaped for moving.
Hands carved for giving.
Tap tap tap.
Shaped with intention, purpose, and skill
The stone carver is a talented man.
Potential radiating from the art
Tap tap tap.
A mind made to choose.
Steady, strong, and somewhat uncomfortable,
The tapping continues on.
But a new sound enters the mix
A whispering of wonders
A breath of bliss.
It whispers of pleasure, freedom, comfort.
Away from the Carver’s clicking.
It promises more than work could ever give
“Here, you can do as you wish.”
Abandoning the carver, the stone rushes away
To freedom and bliss
To live life their way.
Happiness fills the angles of its form,
Light dances over its rough surface.
Every edge hums with delight,
And the wind sings in its ears.
But the unfinished stone stumbles and falls.
Tiny fractures appear, multiply.
Untested and untended, the stone is falling apart.
Why would the Carver make you weak?
CRACK
You can fix this on your own.
CRACK
The Carver will never take you back.
CRACK
You are not worth saving.
CRACK
My legs are broken.
My arms are crooked.
My brain is twisted.
My eyes are shattered.
With trembling hands, I try to veil my fractures in my own dust.
The dust does not hold.
It slips from the cracks,
falls useless at my feet.
I press harder.
The fractures widen.
The whispers are gone.
So is the bliss.
Only silence
and then, faintly,
Tap.
I choke on the word.
It scrapes out of me, broken
Carver…
No demand.
No excuse.
Just a plea through shattered stone.
Tap tap tap.
He accepted me.
With patent kindness the Stonecarver chips away my shattered stone.
He revealed flesh.
Tap tap tap
Blood flows through me like fire!
I am undone and remade.
I inhale.
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