Statues That Never Knew Rain

They cast us still in iron stance
Hands clenched tight with softened teeth
The plaque says Glory polished clean
But we recall the ash beneath

Tourists touch my shoulder now
Believing luck will scrape through bronze
My eyes were left unfinished
Too much truth would break the gloss

They say we stood for something
They say we earned the frame
But metal knows the bending
And sweat forgets its name

We don’t weep like softer figures
We don't bleed we don't explain
What we carry isn’t rust
It’s memory in the strain

The sculptor drank with foremen
His chisel didn’t lie
He carved us with a silence
That outlasts any cry

We don’t crack like ancient columns
We just hold what we contain
Frozen fists and hollow armor
Statues that never knew rain