Rock

 
The boy, nine years old,
   walked down an alley,
   steep, dirt and weeds.
 
His toe caught a rock,
   round, palm-sized,
   and set it skittering;
 
…and, a miracle happened,
   he had a thought,
   an original idea.
 
The rock could be
   over a million years old,
   maybe a billion!
 
The past had been
   an unreachable grayness,
   far behind him,
 
Only the moment
   was of consequence,
   was of any utility.
 
Yet, now the past
   had slammed into him,
   bruising his foot,
 
While remaining unchanged,
   lying still in the sun
   a few yards away.
 
He picked it up,
   held it in his hand,
   held eons of the past,
 
And knew that when
   he no longer existed,
   and was long forgotten,
 
Indeed, when no one was left
   to kick a thing
   or have an idea at all,
 
This rock might still lie
   somewhere, unchanged,
   resting in sunlight.
 
He kept it the rest of his days,
   from time to time noticed it
   and remembered to think.
 

3 thoughts on “Rock

  1. It’s incredible how somethings last longer then others. Just like rocks last longer then people. There are trees in Fort Bragg California that first were grown by monks in the 1600s and are very far from dead today.

  2. makes you realise how short our existence is on earth, in relation to trees, rocks and mountains. Still, we should always keep in mind, that as short our time on earth might be, the impact might be huge! Wonderful post!

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