Let there be emptiness and jaguars, let them seek
each other at the end of night
for that is when the mountains shall be formed
so that they glow
upon the Earth.
There was restlessness inside the world
that struggled to break through the surface.
Floods could not hold it back
and the redwoods and the oaks took up position
determined to grow until
the end of time.
Lost rivers discovered their way
back to the sea, arroyos gained a foothold on
the desert, and the ground kept shifting to accommodate
their movement. When caribou walked
in line across a continent they
believed for all the world
that they were water.
For predators and prey there was a place
where shadows moved and even the winds
sought refuge where
the soul came to seek perfection. Poor soul.
Mountain, tundra, ice cap, every form of stillness
came to be because
of violence in wind and rain and lava flows
for whom the world was not intended to be calm
but beautiful.
When silence prevailed the grass gave thought
to how a rock must feel, The rocks in turn began to wander,
settling in streams and along
trails on desert mountains inviting contemplation.
It was quiet. It was where a rock was happy
just to be a rock, but when storms tore open the sky
thunder’s wish was to be a word.
.
David Chorlton
.