When the hammer strikes 
against a metal sheet
and leaves its mark
on the tranquil flatness
	now forever changed
	sculpted into a new shape
so it is with certain events 
and the impact they have on life
such as the sudden loss 
	of someone close -
not like a rock thrown in a pond
whose surface resumes 
a pristine stillness 
once all the ripples have spread
to the shore
but more like a piece of steel
bent around an anvil
	blow after blow.