The quiet resolve to abide in all conditions
To direct our ship in a set and steady course
From tree to plank to ashes
And further still
A knowing preceding the rise
and proceeding the fall
That which endures through the all
That great scaffolding which allows us to reach great heights,
and a ladder to the depths of despair.
Cinders floating on the currents of their own creation
settling to the ground
having burned through
having destroyed themselves for the purpose of creating
Too numerous to count the ways
Too annihilated to define
The essence remains