Stones Poem by John F. McCullagh

Two young boys had their lines cast into the water while their playmate, Diana, skipped stones across the surface.. "Stop that! " Mohamed said, "You're scaring the fish." Just then the other boy, Jesus, felt a tug on his line." As he reeled in his catch, he teased the slightly younger boy. "You are just saying that because your basket is empty and mine is getting full."
Mohamed selected a stone and hurled it high into the air over the bay. As the stone arched down to the water he said: "No matter how high the stone ascends it always submits to the will of Allah." Jesus selected a flat stone and sent it skimming along the surface of the water before it too sank beneath the waves. "Look how the stone generates ripples of change as it passes along the surface of the water on its way to eternity."
Diana selected a small flat stone and sent it on its way across the water. "You two are getting way too philosophical for me. I am merely playing a game. I call it skimming stones."

"We should eat; I'm getting hungry" Said Mohamed, producing five small loaves of barley bread. Jesus gathered some driftwood from the shore and started a small fire in a pit scooped out from the sand. He took the two fish he had caught and began to cook them over the open flame.
As the three friends sat cross legged on the sand and enjoyed their lunch, they were observed by a slightly older lad, Siddhartha, who had been enjoying the day beneath the shade of a tree father up the slope. As he walked toward them Jesus greeted him saying. "Would you like to join us Sid? We have enough left over to feed a small village. Siddhartha paused, then patted his stomach ruefully, saying. "If I eat too much I will be mistaken for a small village."

AS the sun began to decline into the western sky Diana said." We had better get started back to the village. You know how frantic your mother gets, Jesus, when she doesn't know where you are." Diana shook the sand from her hair and tied it up in a neat efficient pony tail.

As the four friends made their way home across the hardscrabble towards the village the Sun cast their elongated shadows across the white sand until they reached the village and went their separate ways. The Sun cast a few final deep red rays over the surface of the Bay before descending into the waters of the salt unplumbed eternal sea. Then the only light remaining was the reflected light of the crescent moon.