here is a life

written in layers

and child lays at the base

underlying it all

with teen and young adult

above – a living geology;

then the middle era

and finally calcified old age.

when studied later

they will know

that this was a person

below which were others,

beyond which were others

and these here, the non-conformities

where child erupted through old age

while young adult dove into youth

as a result of those glacial pressures

that bore down day in and day out.

the many voices in the chorus

presents a harmony of the whole,

witness to what once was.