Of Rock and Stone, Life and Dragons

A blanket of clouds, across a rugged ridge creep

A veil of silver mist, trails on slopes so steep 

Dappled sunlight, the evening will soon fade

Casting shapes and shadows, light and shade

Sculptured by wind, water and rain

Cliff wall, wrinkled like a stone curtain 

Chiselled from boulder, rock and stones 

Carved from the Earth’s ancient bones

Like towers and turrets of a giant citadel

Created by the elements or a magical spell 

Or perhaps by a Fire Dragon from the legends of old 

From deep beneath the mountain, in caverns so cold

Perhaps it still dreams, by the shores of a crystal lake

Sleeping so deeply, pray that it should never wake

The Earth will shatter, the mountains shake

Rocks will crumble, tumble and break.

To become a rock once again, on the ocean floor

Or a pebble cast by storms upon the shore

Or grains of sand and shale upon the strand

Or a boulder in a canyon deep and grand

Even the tallest mountain will crumble and die

In the Circle of Life, Time, is but the blink of an eye

The story goes on whether by design or by chance

The living earth breathes in a rhythmic dance.

C, Denis Murphy 24 October 2019.