Cephas

Two things you can do with a rock:
you can add it to a pile of stones
stacked atop one another in layers,
the ones at the top pressing down
to the ones cemented at the bottom,
and build a wall, rustic and pastoral,
or you can divide it infinitely,
hammering until it becomes sand
that collects on pilgrim toes
in the warming sun of summer,
that softens with the rhythm
of waves kissing the shoreline.

---

This poem also appears in the October 2022 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 87, No. 10, page 22). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.