What Is Written in Stone

If poetry could be written in stones, 
it might last longer. Mississippi mounds,
Chichen Itza, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu,
Teotihuacan, Mesa Verde, 
Angkor Wat, Lalibela, Petra, 
Gobleki, and the Pyramids have all 
lasted longer than their languages.

What would I want to say to last that long?
Pay attention, maybe.
And know yourself.
Love. Definitely share the love.
Put that in stone.

Because our stone ruins signify a 
desperate attempt to proclaim some large 
social message already lost--its voice
spent.

There is something bigger in merely living 
one’s life. But what that something bigger is is 
something blunt, opaque, and mysterious. 
I am going with this: 
The stones say: We have lived.

Life is a parade, passing before 
our eyes, and then it is gone.

And then I saw the Stone of Stones, as if 
in a dream, above my head, orbicular, 
silent, white, and waning. We are all 
miniscule, ephemeral microcosms 
scratching this wet, old stone planet’s skin 
while the Moon, the patient Guardian, 
watches and waits for us to get it right 
before Silence becomes the Final Truth.