Tears and Stains
Donald P. Goodman III
Version 1.0,
The purest wool is ruined by the smallest stain,
which sinks into the fabric like a pestilence;
no thread, however clean, corruption can contain
what wrecks the cloth more thoroughly than violence;
for mending fixes tears, such that no wound remain,
a whole restored through work applied with excellence;
but filth persists no matter how much strength and strain
might be applied, no matter with what diligence
it's scrubbed and scour'd; indeed, the cloth is made more frail
the more we try to cleanse it with more virulence;
no tear cannot be fixed, but stains forever ail;
all power known to man to purify will fail.