NaPoWriMo Day 22

Crumbling is not an instant act.

It arrives almost unseen and
bows with a fundamental pause.

It is dilapidation, an organized decay,
beginning first with a cobweb 
weaving itself small,
a gentle strangulation upon the soul. 

It is found in a cuticle of dust 
that borders my axis, 
a spec of elemental rust,
a shy unnoticed ruin, at first.

It is a formal designed in devil’s work 
consecutively draped, falling all around me.

I fail in what seems an instant 
partnered with the Devil,
slipping into Crashe’s Law.

…..

Here we are at day 22 in NaPoWriMo. I got a little further this year than I have in the last few in which I participated. My last poem was on day 10.

Today’s prompt has us choosing an Emily Dickinson poem we’ve never read and take away her punctuation and dashes. Then we can remove and add words.

This is my kind prompt!

Here is her poem:

Crumbling is not an instant’s Act (1010)
BY EMILY DICKINSON

Crumbling is not an instant’s Act
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation’s processes
Are organized Decays —

‘Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul
A Cuticle of Dust
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust —

Ruin is formal — Devil’s work
Consecutive and slow —
Fail in an instant, no man did
Slipping — is Crashe’s law —