Simon Perchik
Untitled
Crawling out the mountain’s side, a statue
robed, kneeling, his right arm
so high did its stone
almost stop listening - his free hand
comforting a book, so gentle a book
to stone! my heart
the hammer those pages never felt, dry
bloodied, hanging from the sun
- nothing falls. This monk
can’t turn, his back
nothing but sunrise and pain :the pledge
that choked his heart - he was promised
the Flood! his eyes
each morning the mist
shines on everything stone
filling that wound in the mountain’s side
- oceans are coming, my right hand
opening his, the book
flapping in our hands
- without a voice
the sun calls out, the monk
lets go, my arms
ache, his eyes and mine
looking through stone
at the sunrise torn red to the point
pain is about to fall.
Where is the rain this monk and I
each morning - great oceans! all his promises
begin with pain, with cloudbursts
clogging our anchored umbilical cords :rain
red as - why not on this rock?
Monk, grab my hands again. These tears
are my tears. Are coming! Here is a place.
Page(s) 50
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