'Stones'

Her choice is not random,
she chooses with care.
The first: A speckly affair -
"Granite" she says, very good.

"But this is special granite,
hewn from rocks far below Aberdeen
by the little people of the mountains
who lived here long before."

The second: pearl-like, has
strange qualities, because it is a tear,
that fell almost to the floor, at that point
freezing, the dragon squealing

uncharacteristically. To lose the maiden
was too much for even that steel heart to bear.
He was all love with her that moment,
his soul becoming as water, captured

in this stone. Froze, hovering in the air
for ages and ages, till plucked and pocketed
by a lost and desolate knight.
You can see the liquid in it

in the right light. We've a thousand
such stones where once was spread.
But so far we've unearthed
only a small-portion of their secrets.

They are petrified eggs, worn bones,
magnificent uncut priceless jewels,
our 'Stones'.

It is a magic word,
moves mountains, or at least
a lidless tub now thumped on a sill,
where it stays, saying nothing at all.


Cor, 2001