42 Stones
STACKING STONES
Leader on war
No progress yet
Just fighting on
Do not throw stones
You live in glass.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say or guess, for you know only a heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. 1
Son of man
Breathe; rock knows
Son of mountain
War like buddha
Like the fire sermon
Brings its liberation
Down to the ground
Disenchantment can equate to freedom.
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think. 2
Rolling stone gathers no moss 3
But moss plant life
Sits in the stream
Happily under water.
If there were water
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water
A spring. 4
Rock with no water
Springtide is gone
Rock like son
But no water
As war burys
Life until now
Prevailed under glass
Life requires
Water on rock.
World dependant on us
We are dependent on goods
Goods dependent on rocks
Rocks stand still
Their dependance on gravity.
The world declares its dependance
Dependance declares war
And all dependants are struck by gold.
Gold resides in rocks
Rock is continuously destroyed
And gravity binds us
Rock has been sold
And goods are gold.
Gold is the ocean wave
Secured by salt along tide
Lively action from the moon
Lifts us up and down all the time
Buddha dies, war dies, god dies,
And money resides in our pockets.
Liberation from war takes time.
Liberation from suffering becomes a transaction.
When war builds rivers of money
Rocks scatter themselves in the mountains
Known only to those of war
Leaving water by the ocean
How much does the river of war cost?
Winding sandy road ends at the beach
River stones remain as water flows away.
I do not know how I may seem to others
But to myself I am only
A small child wandering
Upon the vast shores of knowledge
Every now and then
Finding a small bright pebble
To be contented with. 5
1Eliot, T.S., Faber and Faber, London, 1954, 41.
2Eliot, T.S., Faber and Faber, London, 1954, 54.
3Chatzi, Maria, Beach Stones Inspired.com, Rocks and Stones Inspirational Quotes, Beach stones Inspired,http://www.beachstonesinspired.com/rocks-and-stones-inspirational-quotes.html, 1, 27/09/15.
4Eliot, T.S., Faber and Faber, London, 1954, 54/55.
5Chatzi, Maria, Beach Stones Inspired.com, Rocks and Stones Inspirational Quotes, Beach stones Inspired,http://www.beachstonesinspired.com/rocks-and-stones-inspirational-quotes.html, 26, 27/09/15.