13 Ways Humans Break

I.

Like a cloud on top of the earth

One by one forms the weight of the weary

Until that last rain drop breaks the dam,

And the water comes crashing down

II.

As the Autumn trees change -

Leaves turning bloody, soon to fall.

And on the street, we drive by 

Calling their suffering "beautiful."

III.

In the shattering of glass

From the window on a wall

Shards jagged and unrepairable;

Cutting any who come too close

IV.

 Like the comings of sleep -

...slowly, quietly.....unnoticed until

the vestige of a dream fades.....

and awareness returns...pricks,

at our finger tips

V.

As a record on the turntable laps

A single scratch; the song keeps -

A short beat sticks, stuck, repeats.

Trying to move forward but unable to go on

VI.

By starting a fire, warming all around

Yet burning burns the wood slowly down

And in the end the fire must go out,

Leaving only the ghost of what it used to be.

VII.

As a lake slowly freezes over

In the spanning wintertime,

Too cold for the masses to swim;

the danger of falling in pushes them away.

VIII.

like an old toy placed on a viewing shelf,

sitting there like some cheap souvenir

Remembered for the joy it used to give,

yet discarded in favor of new, shinier things. 

IX.

In wind whipping through the city streets

Raging against skyscrapers at every side 

Trying to move the immovable; 

It blows and blows and the buildings stay.

X.

Like letting a balloon fly into the sky,

Floating ever higher into the night

But there comes a point where the

Pressure is too much. The balloon bursts.

XI.

As lightning strikes, 

With a whip and crack

Flashing with a thousand volts

That die as quickly as they came.

XII.

In the way a piece of clothing

Hangs on the rack in a closet

Good enough to buy,

Yet never to be worn

XIII.

Like flowers picked,

bundled together,

torn from their roots

and left to wilt.