Fragmentation by Owen Townend

 

If yin and yang

                     snapped in twain

would the little circles

                               pop out too?

Could there be more pieces

                               we can’t yet fathom?

Philosophy may well have got there

                                                   well before me,

examining the fragmentary nature

                                                   of an ancient balance.

Perhaps the black and white curves

                                                   cannot hold shape

under symbolic duress,

                               tails and cracks and grey crumbs

that mean something,

                               that human nature

cannot hold together without.

                                         Feel bone china shards,

stroke the teacup texture,

                     seek the breakage.

Is it moral?

          Can it be salvaged?

Will the fragments smooth out

                                         to a whole

and what if that whole

                               is new?

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"Fragments" by erix! is licensed under CC BY 2.0.