MUSIC
POETRY
2010
PRESS
NARRATION
ABOUT US
COMEDY
Realms of Stone
I
These are the starker realms of stone and
light where we’re fiercely on our own,
but for now I’ll wander about on the lawn
to enjoy the trees, the grass, the people.
These are no times for weak knees
or hiding our heads like ostriches from truth;
the mire and quicksand are too deep already;
I know the routine—I’m involved.
The summer grass gives under my tread and
gets flattened where I trample on it,
yet it is resilient and quite effortlessly
curves back up while the years grow sparse.
I hear an unsubtle rumble of thunder
above the elms on this bright, cloudless day.
II
Where have our senses and seasons gone? Slipped
underneath the grass like water after a drizzle?
But doesn’t even here the rock bed
under the earth crust collect last week’s rains?
A late sunlight blazes all over the place
alongside many, many shadows, and we must
daily cross these vast terrains of shade
to reach some quiet corners in our lives.
The calm identity of grass seems to
be all we have beside these smatterings of light,
but no!—such comfort isn’t enough. I’m calling
for the shine on solid stone that I will own
before the great blur kicks in, and trees, grass, rocks
and mankind roll away like histories of stars.
© 2004 Freddy Niagara Fonseca
Published in The Neovictorian/Cochlea, Madison, WI in 2006
Design and copyright 2009 Freddy Niagara Fonseca
Fairfield Creates
