Buildings

There comes a time
in a building's life
when you start to compare
demolition and repair.
For a building,
there is no such thing as
aging gracefully,
dying with any scrap of dignity.
Only scraps of scrap.
Because a building is not alive.
These bricks are not like cells;
they don't have organelles.
These walls are not like skin;
they can't choose what to let in.
And so we work our living bodies
and we burn our living skin
as we strive to keep alive
these buildings we live in.