The rock, the stone, the pebble

He searched for the rock, everywhere,

the stabilizer, the foundation, the assured

platform on which to stand and not shake

or shift or waver.

He looked everywhere for the stone,

the talisman he could palm or pocket

or hold to umbrella the rain

and melt the snow.

He looked everywhere for the pebble,

the rounded hardness hidden in the sole

of a shoe or the creviced floor, the pebble

to protect, first, and then empower,

second.

He found them all and he found more

of them, rocks, stones, pebbles

of varying sizes and colors, and they

worked as expected and they didn’t

work as expected because he had looked

in all the wrong places.

Photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.