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The strands we twist

TITLE / YEAR

The strands we twist

2012

Model

Self Portrait

A Builder's Lesson Poem by John Boyle O'Reilly

'HOW shall I a habit break?'
As you did that habit make.
As you gathered, you must lose;
As you yielded, now refuse.
Thread by thread the strands we twist
Till they bind us neck and wrist;
Thread by thread the patient hand
Must untwine ere free we stand.
As we builded, stone by stone,
We must toil unhelped, alone,
Till the wall is overthrown.