No, Seneca, stoically is an adverb
for another fool in another time.
Spiderwebs freeze.
Plastic rope frays.
The human spirit decays and passes
from animation to rust.
Tetanus, I feel it.
A locked jaw is a strong statement,
but one that ails
by the motions that might otherwise soften
from caricature to face.
Hard grips freeze and crack
against rock, harder than places,
and yet meltable as with anything
from lava to sun to light.
Readiness is not godliness.
Reactions are chemical and otherwise.
And any given aphorism
is a prism that can only
support a certain weight.
Roman Ryan 