Defiance

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moonah_Creek_%27Hanging_Tree%27_(2003).jpg">Photo courtesy of the State of Queensland Heritage Register / Wikimedia Commons</a><br/><br/>after Diana Gabaldon<br/><br/>Perhaps you know how life will chip awaythe secret fire within and leave us coldand old and broken, wishing for the daybefore the rope unraveled. We were boldin some small measure, brave enough to standin opposition to the unjust tidethat rises in the morning of this landstill ripe with plentitude. We will not hidethough this defiance comes with bitter cost.It&#8217;s better to have stood on quelling legsand fall: we shatter but are never lostthough we may ruefully choke on sorrow&#8217;s dregs,a bitter cup, indeed. But so it goes:our fortunes may yet change. Nobody knows. <br/><br/>Get full access to Sonnets &c. at <a href="https://zjppoetry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast">zjppoetry.substack.com/subscribe</a>