Tough Girl

hide behind this brick and mortar
your false exterior
protected within these walls
like ivy on the vine, I come to you
betraying this fortress
and break you down to gravel

a war of attrition
withstood by so few
creeping deep inside you
where no sunlight can reach
setting you up for the inevitable fall
leaving you exposed, as if no wall ever stood

not a moat of stagnant darkness
nor a tower built to see
deters this insidious erosion
of both time and Portland sand
just your persistent attempts at repair
to busy your troubled mind