The kids are doing well as is "Pops"...

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Common Tongue

A promise breaks:
Splintering shards of glass
That stab and slash us all with
Slivers of your pain
Worlds fall
Words fail


There will be times of
Flame upon the mountain
Blistering agonies of sulphurous flux
That coruscate the heart and sear the mind
Blinding torrents and
Angry shouts that leave no room for hope
No pause for breath


There will be later times:
Whole dreary oceans roll
In deep and doleful splendour
Across the cold sea floor
Crabwise and endless
Green and bitter
Numb and
Empty as a brittle shell
Where love’s light
Spills in sombre chill


Yet from these gasping depths we rise
Pressure on our chest
Iron in our throat
And in the keening bite of bitter wind
The living tang of salt:
A promise on
Our lips
A word given flight
A glimmer of warmth
And the sharing of breath on
Our common tongue

Written by (*my very own) 'maverick'.