"of shards and fragments"
One story walks the desert,
learning to endure.
The other climbs the rock,
vanishing without answer.
Both leave fragments—
survival and absence—
to be carried, not resolved.
A cry begins,
cut short,
collapse denied,
endurance affirmed.
What cannot be answered
is carried instead,
a shard held together,
not abandoned to despair.
Imported order dissolves,
whether in white dresses or suburban fathers.
The land insists,
and the psyche learns to endure—
not with despair,
but with fragments carried forward,
a stoicism born of dust and rock.
.
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Author:
crypticbard (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: December 10th, 2025 05:05
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 13
- Users favorite of this poem: Friendship, Tristan Robert Lange
Offline)
Comments8
Wow, your words hit hard! The imagery, the contrast, the raw emotion - it's all so powerful. Very well written!!!
Thank you, Salvia! First comment today and first after a long while. This is so special 🕊️🙏🏻
Enjoyed this write very much! I like your use of strong verbs, makes it very powerful. Excellent write. Your writing is very deep and profound and I'm sorry I don't always capture the full meaning but do enjoy the language and the writing. Thanks-Katie
Most thankful to you, dear Katie. It is a great privilege to hear your most appreciated thoughts🕊️🙏🏻
Wow, you had me thinking on this one! Well written, my friend. This poem serves to reflect on the nature of resilience, encouraging readers to acknowledge and carry their own "fragments" as part of their journey through life. It invites introspection on how individuals cope with despair and find meaning in their experiences.
Many thanks, dear Friendship 🕊️🙏🏻
Well Cryptic you have been rather enigmatic these days, This could be about people taking over the land and keeping a piece of who they are and where they came from while the story of the land before and those there disappear, or it just as well speaks to an individual's different stories through life as some fall into forgetfulness while others remain. In any case fragments remain and we must accept them hopefully with stoicism for we have little other choice. I'm having to use the shotgun method in hopes of hitting something not being a very good shot. Loved it though my friend
Indeed it has, Soren. This was birthed from an ongoing conversation with another friend about the 1975 film “Picnic at Hanging Rock.” 🕊🙏🏻
I have not seen that one so I walked into this one blind
My friend, this is beautifully restrained…the desert, the fragments, the unanswered cries, the psyche learning to move through dust and rock. It feels like a meditation on survival without illusion. Stunning work, Rik. 🌹🖤🙏🕯️🐦⬛
Thanks Tittu, for always seeing the general lay of the land/poem. 🕊🙏🏻
A fine write A.
Thanks O 🙏🏻🕊
Some Poams are like a Rorschach Test. We can get our own interpretation from them.
Resilience is my View of this . Good Write.
Yes! That is a major theme of this poem, dear Kevin 🕊🙏🏻
All the dust and rock that comes into our lives Rik can mean so many things to us.
Andy
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