Velene Campbell Poems

- Of everything I've experienced here, the most demanding, the most courageous challenge has been to stay centered in love in the face of violence and anger, of frustration and fear and sadness.'

- Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist
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- - Written after visiting the San Gabriel Mission and Los Encinos Park. Los Encinos is the last Spanish rancho in California, and was passed down through the family until the 1980's, when the land then remaining was broken up into lots and sold. At the rancho there is the main house, a blacksmith's shed, and another two story structure which housed the workmen, and was used for storage. On the grounds there is also a cistern, and a small pond with geese and ducks which is fed by an underwater stream. Erica Wagner's poem 'An unbeliever at the tomb of Frau Langhans, Hindelbank, Switzerland' was also an influence.


WITH STONE WINGS
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The moon does not regret her winter,
Or the torn strands of gray chiffon
That cover her face tonight.
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The rock was very old. It had lived in the river for many years, and its belly had become as smooth as that of the water that held it. It had traveled down the river, and had seen many things, had learned much. Each year it would go a certain length, and when winter came, it would become covered with darkness, and then would sleep. The ice would cover the river like a blanket, and the rock would feel at once like falling, like sleeping.
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