I wield this life of bone and marrow

Fending off foe and sorrow.

I plunge the sword of tongue and fist

Into threats and fears.

I galvanize my feet to tread on staunchly.

Painless – I insist.

I’m cloaked in mail, firm, steadfast

I ride the wind and waves of fate

With resolute bearing.

But one brutal clash and this life breaks,

Shatters in my hands.

Pierces soft palms with shards of hope, handle, poise.

Gory this, this mess of me.

Till stumbling blind and wounded

You pluck me up.

You hang the fragments of armor aside.

And gaze at my broken spirit.

There palms matched flat, your breath to mine

Pressed too close, I can’t escape.

Though weakness binds me, too.

Beneath the weight of all your love

I suck in life-breath once again.

You offer no recovered mail, or weapons made of earth.

But humble now, so vulnerable

I rise to stand in shadow

Fragile behind The Able.