TWO ROCK STARS

TWO ROCK STARS

ROCK 1:

I wish I were a rock of salt.

Then I won’t be so insulted.

Here I sit at the bottom of the stream

pelted by water

pecked by fishes

pinched by crabs

unseen, uncelebrated by man

useless to him and his art.

I wish I were a rock of salt

so I could sweeten a woman’s cuisine

cherished and stored in her cupboard

a rock of salt is what rock should be.

ROCK 2:

How I wish I were a rock of granite

so I could swim

so I could sit without fear

at the bottom of the stream

so I could be strong

with no fear of dissolving

But a drop of water

would melt me down

Woe, I could never be a cornerstone

for a tall and timeless cathedral

I sit here imprisoned

in the cupboard of a woman

She breaks a part of me

every time she wants to cook.

and throws a pinch of me

inside her pot of frying oil

To sit, free, among tourists at sea

a rock of granite is what rock should be.