Above the maple full of songbirds,
two spreading contrails slowly drift.

Worming my way westward,
I devour herds and flocks—I pass fertile fields.

Greybeard loon goes laughing down the lane
astride a gust of passing wind.

FIRE-DANCER

Bonfire
on the cliffside;
the calm blue sea below.
Plunge through the flames, breathless, into
cool waves.

STUBBORN RUBBLE

Shattered
by the pressure
applied so steadily,
rock rumbles through the crusher's jaws—
then jams.

PERPETUAL MOTION

Through war
and pestilence,
through famine and the plague,
sea tides ebb and flow, their rhythm
changeless.

STILL STONE

Millstone
immobilized—
grit in the gears prevents
its slow rotation to the stream's
brisk flow.

THE ANVIL OF KHRONOS

Hammer
head misshapen
by thousands of hard blows—
when it was new, such wear was not
foreseen.