Need text to show on top of shapes

It took me years to fully digest position attribute but try this: 1. start with a box that's position relative 2. put boxes inside of that box that have position absolute and positioned by top, left, bottom, right 3. add z-index to the position absolute boxes to layer them as you want Position absolute and z-index can solve a lot of exact positioning problems but the key is to put it all inside a position relative box that you completely control. That box will isolate all the absolutes inside of it.