People In Glass Houses

       I build my house of shining glass
of crystal
prisms
light, clear,
delicate.
The wind blows
Sets my rooms to singing.
The suns bright rays
are not held back
but pour
their radiance through the rooms
in sparkles of delight.
       And what, you ask, of rain
that leaves blurred muddy streaks
across translucent purity?
What, you ask,
of the throwers of stones?
       Glass shatters,
breaks,
sharp fragments pierce my flesh,
darken with blood.
The wind tinkles brittle splinters
of shivered crystal.
The stones crash through.
       But never mind.
My house
My lovely shining
fragile broken house
is filled with flowers
and founded on a rock.

~Madeleine L'Engle