Rocks that will not move.
Insurmountable, we say.
Stony outcroppings like
fortresses against the wind.
To break them down, impossible.
To challenge them, the devil’s deceit.
To break with the past,
a tedious effort.
To reshape our future,
imaginations true test.
Great Heartbeat;
waves, wash over us.
By the drop, challenge
old assumptions.
Reshape the land with
the small and relegated.
Define us by the blended
foam, breaker upon breaker,
water warrior upon water warrior.
The victory of the insignificant,
the cessation of doubt, wrought
upon a stubborn, defiant coast.
Time matters. And time laced with
subtle actions, tumultuous challenges,
the roar of combers forever reaching,
the lapping waters.
All form fissures that divide what is stone,
and make way for rock to break.
Oh Gentle Lord, remind us that in the slow
and steady roll of great waters, in the steady
drip of rain, in the fall of cascades
of renewed promise, there is change.
There is the break of day.
There is a cavalcade of what is new,
a surprise water could not fathom.
Such tiny, irrepressible drops
thrown together
against such
stalwart but
yielding
competition.
More ancient still,
water’s signature
on the land.
From a prospective book: Spirit Sojourn.
John A. Bragstad is the author of two books, Compass Season & The Poetry of Life.
Both are available at Amazon.