<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Stars</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class="">“Things seem strong.”—Jane Hirshfield</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Small things—<br class="">
like the silver band of flowers<br class="">
around my finger—<br class="">
seemed strong<br class="">
until my wrist<br class="">
(which seemed strong)<br class="">
splintered<br class="">
and the ring<br class="">
had to be cut in two. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Bigger, built things—bridges, tunnels,<br class="">
planes, steel-spined buildings—<br class="">
all seem strong.<br class="">
Until they fail and fall.<br class="">
</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Natural things too—the earth for one—<br class="">
seem strong—until the deep fault fractures<br class="">
and quakes, and shakes us to our cores.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Things—not things—like the strongest<br class="">
person I knew—seemed strong (invincible even)<br class="">
until a clot exploded in her brain,<br class="">
into a thousand stars that took her<br class="">
to another universe in an instant.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The cartilage, the blood,<br class="">
the constellations of bone<br class="">
that knit us all together,<br class="">
the networks of nerves, of veins—<br class="">
no longer seem so strong.<br class="">
Things seem fragile. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Lisa Owens Viani</div></div></body></html>