disappointment builds grey
stone walls 
but even a memory of promise fulfilled
disturbs despair and trust stirs its old bones

like when earthquakes gut cities 
and girders expose the strain they have withheld  
wasted energy spits and flails 
and weight piles in weeps of settled rubble

within this ruin
carapaces of space 
may trap pockets of air 
fragile shells 
where a sliver of trust
	a thirst for trust
may wait
suspended

even a single memory of promise fulfilled
disturbs despair 
and trust stirs its old bones

your catastrophic loss 
teeters on chance

a chance someone will reach you
a chance you will trust

child
	chance 
			you

Poem by Jo Mariner / image Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons