Perseverance

Fiorella awoke his morning to the sound of the resident redbird banging his beak again and again into the dining room window, and the truth she had been seeking came to her. What happens to her in her life does not matter as much as what she chooses to do with her life, and Fiorella chooses to use her intelligence, talents and skills to make the world a better place, at home and away. And like the redbird, she will persevere.

History

Family histories are only half true, at least as far as Fio's family goes.  Where memory fails us, imagination takes over--yes, we are a creative bunch.  We embellish and alter, and we don't even realize it. Fio bets other families do the same.  And countries do too.

The truth is many-layered and obscure--another example of alternate universes.

Endurance

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Fiorella used to hate "Ozymandias," Percy Bysshe Shelley's depressing poem about how nothing matters because nothing endures.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

But after due thought, Fio disagrees with Percy.  Certain things do endure.  Not edifices built by mighty rulers, not the rulers, not even their histories, certainly not their people, but universal principles.  Thus: 

Love Endures

How long lasts love?  Past tomorrow's dawn? 
Past hurt and anger, betrayal, desertion, death?

This weakness of the heart--will it grow strong

Enough to last the years, and stay weak yet?

Love ripens in the lusty sun of youth

And is consumed, but blossoms always sweet

To be the springtime baby's first-fed fruit,

The sustenance of summer, winter's treat.

The music of the song survives the singer

And echos of itself divinity;

Thus Love and Beauty, Truth, and Courage linger

Long past their actors in eternity.

         How long lasts love?  My love is yours
         As long as Love endures; yes, love endures.