MUTE STONES

MUTE STONES

         —after Charles Simic

the dread stones

wavering on the cliff

seeking the lowest point

seeking the water’s pathways

seeking the belly of the ocean

and the origin of land

the upthrust of their birth

the stones that once flowed like water

out of the mouths of volcanoes

are most eager to test the boundaries of hardness

and the structures of fluidity.

Once they were standing waves

beginning flight

seeking air and the heart

of the earth bled

making them whole

giving them substance.

Sometimes they dream

of returning to the womb

Few are offered the chance

for the earth’s tectonic plates

select only a few

to reinvent themselves

as liquid, as land

So this is the way of stones

the star charts of the moon face

the secret prints in the moon’s dust

If we go inside a stone

we would find the patterns revealed

the dreams of stars

Once I held a meteor, a smoking mirror

In my hand I saw my twin

locked in that inky dark underworld

gazing back at me, lips parted

as if to speak, but as I leaned

closer, she was mute as stone.

4/27/94