I feel robbed of my usefulness

five years gone searching my foothold slipped down a mountainside I built from the rubble of my past

it was a beautiful cairn tall wide stable supportive until those that joined me atop its peak began to carry away

stones held together as they’d been now easily dismantled despite my conscious efforts and the accolades

these stone carriers professed as truth it was

just not as I ate it

truth just not as I built it

so tumbled down the mountainside turned to look behind at what tripped me up seeing there is nothing there

but my own dream reality held beautifully but mistaken for it’s own demise

to rise again not by my hands yet hands are needed to carry stones and set corners into place

were that my strength were enough

five years gone robbed I say of my usefulness I blame no one

yet myself stands in accused aching remove my shoes I must I am on sacred ground

flattened by the falling no will to stand maybe that is its own answer to the search

for the perfect stone to being the bearing of gifts

again again again