Written in oily, hearty, blood.
These warnings of the coming flood.
Shaped by muscle & circumstance.
Colored by learning life & chance.
Sculpted by winds of change & grit.
Born of progress’s writhing fit.
Scaling living’s slippery slope.
Forged in cruelty & cured by hope.
Sharpened & honed by wit & tongue.
Recorded on each ladder’s rung.

