Tuesday, November 21st, 2006

A poem submitted by Angelyn DeBord. She is an Appalachian-born and raised storyteller, actress, playwright and workshop leader from Gate City, VA.
http://www.geocities.com/mtnstories/

***From a distance *

*the sound is of birds *

*rustling*

*threatened by my approach*

*their flight *

*is imminent.*

*that is the sound…*

*as I draw nearer*

* *

*studying the cattails *

*for the birds’ sudden flight*

*I see that they only sway*

*as they swayed *

*before I was there*

*and I realize the sound *

*was also there*

*before I was there*

*It is the sound *

*of the pebbles*

*falling *

*sprinkling the raw earth surface*

*very gradually*

*a veil of earth, tiny pebbles *

*a mountain slowly *

*cascading in *

*on itself*

*gradually, *

*slowly *

*constantly*

*the veil of pebbles*

*the veil of earth*

*descends*

*in an attempt to heal *

*it’s mortal wound*

*a mountain caving in*

*on the wound gashed *

*in its side*

* *

*the gash is too great*

*undermining *

*the very roots of the mountain*

*soon the oaks *

*will crash*

*the boulders *

*smash *

*the mountain *

*can’t hold *

*itself up *

*anymore *

*It has a mortal wound.*

*Who will be there *

*to see?*

*If a mountain dies*

*and no one is there *

*to hear it*

*does it still *

*make a sound?*
*Can you hear it?*

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Contributed Prayers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.