Orphaned Pebbles
by Odin Roark

Atop so many ebbs and tides
Have I ridden
Beneath the roil and tumble
Have I survived

Now at last
A fling of wave and wind
Rests me among found safety
A pebble blanket
High upon the shores
At the foot of your magnificence

How very long ago it seems
Your mountain spire
A shudder
A quaking shift
My security split open
The severed shards
The razor chips
Cascading into the sea

We were all lost
Flung from your fortressed castle
Destined to drift
And tumble
In watered darkness

But you…

After your fathoms-deep eruption
Did heal
Ocean did soothe
Sunlight did transform
Devastation into vegetation
Your island survived
Your knife-edged spirit
In spite of severed shoulders and face
Became a frozen echo of resilience

Your ancient imagination made beautiful its scarring
Its many cave-like eyes held firm the watch
Your beard of tangled vines continued its reach far below
Across a rotund belly of scree and sand

How peaceful this inlet shore
Where briny caresses have protected
And made available your pebbled orphans
Who returned

So…

Here we are
Waiting patiently the next adventurous child
Looking to select
Gather
Sort
And cherish one of your surviving kin

As the sun dries my polished continuance
I wonder if the journey will find new transport
To window pane
Cigar box
Perhaps an aquarium
Placed among other friends of the deep

Though…

I’m hoping to become
A pocket buddy
That’s the best
Don’t you think?

To be a warm companion
To a boy like the one hovering over me now

He’s leaning down…