Like the last note of a song
That echoes in the night,
The soul is fragile as the day is long.

A glacier may seem unassailably strong.
A rift can send it tumbling, no matter how slight,
Like the last note of a song.

A fragile violet’s nature seems wrong
For facing this world’s fight.
The soul is fragile as the day is long.

A soft nature seems not to belong.
Many broken spirits shatter and take flight,
Like the last note of a song.

The weakness had power all along
To challenge and topple might.
The soul is fragile as the day is long.

Words die on my tongue.
The crack lets in the light,
Like the last note of a song,
The soul is fragile as the day is long.

Mary McKeel graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her poems have appeared in several print and online journals.