THE BIRTH OF A STONE

This is a short poem for anyone who likes to hike alone in the mountains.

                                                    THE BIRTH OF A STONE

Besides the stillness of an ancient avalanche
Whose rocks have come to rest,
I wonder if there are stones
That no one has ever spied
I hiked an arduous path
In search of a single stone

Beneath the sodden soil,
Damp and musky from a spring rain
My foot came down hard
On a relic from the ages
A stone, slippery, treacherous, unremorseful
Unfeeling stone, old as time
Covered in moss and indifference

If a tree falls in the forest,
As some clever philosopher once said,
Will anyone hear it?
If this stone has any feeling, will it have any sympathy
For my throbbing ankle.
Damn you stone,
I wish you had never been born