A Rock Garden Poem by RIC BASTASA

in my present garden
i put rocks and pebbles
some sands
added dusts

they ask what do i grow
in there?

i put a chair and sit there
alone

barefoot i put my hands
in the open

i gaze
feeling like the sun
to some
planets

the stones as i walk
for a while
grate
as though they have
teeth

then back to where i sit
they begin
to grow silence

silence is a lotus
it is a pond too where
a dragonfly is
hovering

there is this stillness of a
little universe
the space is emptiness
of imaginary
stars

there is no moon here
no one is lost

there are no leaves
no pretensions of stems and calyx

the stones are faceless
like everyone that i meet in the mall

the rocks stand like gods
unchanged unaffected by the chaos of
my thoughts

i gaze
transfer my eyes to those that remain
intact

immutable hardness
fixed situations

they only sound when you take a walk
they do not rearrange things here
for they are heavy
and always
unchanged, unaffected
steady, firm

lifeless, unfeeling
stubborn, solid,

tonight darkness sleeps with them
its coldness seeps in every stone

lifelessly
always unaffected, unfeeling

and much as i wanted to stay
i can't

i have life out there
a door to open again and again...