By Hand

I hesitated, the final brick in my hand.

I drank the moment in, as I was almost finished. A decade of my life had been spent, mostly but not completely dedicated for building this, by myself, brick by brick. When I was an old man, I would tell my grandchildren how I'd done it, how I'd found purpose and meaning in the simple joy of building this-

Suddenly, there was a cracking noise as the riverbed shifted, and one of the walls fell down.

Part of me was happy for more work.

My foot, under the wall? Not so much.