Maryanne this was amazing!! Sometimes too many metaphors become overwhelming, i dont think they are necessary in every stanza, but here, its almost like your metaphors werent metaphors...they just totally made sense to me..they didnt sound like broken English, or crafty writing, it was as if they told the story and had me nodding my head like yup, I agree with this, yup, this makes sense. I know I'm babbling, but I hope you get what I mean. I havent really been captivated by metaphors like I have here in a really long time. I love it!!