in life’s rivers
rounded stones
shaped & smoothed
by time & tides
water glides past them
over beds of gravel
those further from the flow
on banks & in fields
expose sharper angles
fractures softened by moss
stains of oxidisation
in the blue distance
aloof, craggy peaks
snow-capped year round
weighed down by ice—
but even they have rainier days
& meltwater resumes
its slow
patient
work
