"Carved & shaped" [sonnet]

Carved & shaped
        or quarried & moved

chipped & scraped
        or polished & buffed

what we are
        grows finely grooved

this   the artist
        first out-roughed

then returned   with tinkling files
    prodding   sanding   blowing breath
        in our sheen   he sees his smiles
            while his little knives marked death

                birth   pain   growth-confusion
                finely edge   the stony mass
                often a wash   of warm illusion
                lets the sediment   lift & pass

        from this workshop   who egresses?
        few are finished!   patience blesses

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This is responsive to two sonnets I read this morning on a group blog: Jyostna's A Sonnet-Untitled, and Deemikay's Stone sonnet.