The Stick That Fails to Hold

A child’s fingers press,

half-missing glue blobs squeezed from crooked tubes,

taped edges peeling, curling away

like tired hands letting go.

The page refuses to lie flat,

curling stubbornly at the tear’s ragged seam,

sticky islands that can’t quite meet,

a bond half-broken, half-hopeful.

It’s the desperate stick of trying,

the messy attempt to mend what’s torn,

some things won’t fit no matter how you paste,

or press,

or hold.

The glue—

sometimes it just isn’t enough.