The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Jane Ellen Glasser

In Defense of Stones

Blameless

against gravity,

blameless

in the hands of fury,

stones would just as soon

stay home

for a long nap.

They are not emotional

like seeds, leaves, the wind.

Yet, palmed

on a sun-glazed walk,

just one

can drive out loneliness.

Comfortable in a crowd,

or a castaway

on beaches, roadsides,

what is more adaptable?

Willingly,

they let the river’s tongues

soothe their edges.

Willingly,

they join a community

to keep in, to keep out.

Balanced,

one atop the other,

they show us the way

to stay calm, steady, secure

in the simplicity of being.