The stone

24.05.06

There's one thing I receive
But still miss;
Lonely like the north star on a stormy night.
Witness to the waves crash on the rocks
What harm can it do - water on stone?

But there it is, the truth:
Stone withers away under perpetual stroke
The storm has won,
The ocean proves its strength
At the expense of an unknown rock.

Then there's the other stone.
Shapeless, ugly little thing
That a boy tossed into the waves
A decade ago.

The same punishment, ruthlessness
Minute after minute, the surf crashes
Onto the vast shore,
Onto the unidentifiable stone.
People walked by; some kicked it
Others drew hearts on the sand with it -
Nothing short of nothing;
And the waves crashed on.

But the same ocean, same strength
Caused a different story.
The stone found shape, smoothness
Amidst the violent storm.
Beautiful to the eye,
Silken to the touch was this stone.

I pick it up, and sit myself down.
This pebble has survived the storm:
Managed to defeat the unending ocean.

I swear I saw the north star twinkle.

This was a poem written in the dead of the night while exams were on.