Stone

When I am soft and weak, in pain I ask
the Goddess to make me into a stone,
for a rock is never taken to task,
nor ever is gravel truly alone.
Every crystalline structure connects
to its own twin, and this twinning protects
from the echoing solitude of night
and so the creeping, crawling, prickling fright.
Water like love; in the desert I eke -
the Goddess comes and tells me in the light:
hard places contain the fortune you seek.

My features are stone, my face is a mask,
my wit as sharp as a knife I must hone;
Never in love am I welcome to bask,
I work to maintain an icy cold tone.
It seems that I belong with the rejects,
along with all the usual suspects:
those filled with sorrow, with pity, or spite,
and all who lack the means or any might
to stand by whatever needs that they speak.
Life is not fair, and nothing seems all right;
hard places contain the fortune you seek.

From a distance life looks rich as damask;
under the flesh you cannot see the bone
until you approach, proceed to unmask,
see that the maiden disguises the crone.
Wisdom is needful for when one detects
diamonds in the rough - so one prospects
among rocks only with most careful sight;
if this is so, then even at great height
it is possible at gems one will peek.
No faith without initiation rite:
hard places contain the fortune you seek.

Harsh, coarse, and dry, never wick but hask;
under ordeals you will shake and will moan,
stripped sore from within as if from the lask,
weeping and flailing, then on the ground, prone.
Only through this, that character corrects -
pressure gives rubies their many aspects,
sapphires grow when the stressors are tight,
emeralds blossom only at that site.
Endure whatever destruction will wreak
for you must learn how to put up a fight;
hard places contain the fortune you seek.

Be merry as yet, joy is in the cask,
we have memories of days that have shone;
when there is plenty, then fill up your flask
to imbibe in an intemperate zone.
And therefore some misery it deflects,
some of the aching and anger bisects,
if one might wish to ward off the dark wight,
one must become one's own shining white knight.
Even if it makes you some kind of freak,
fear not the straight, narrow, common to slight;
hard places contain the fortune you seek.

Fight dirty, learn how to kick and to bite;
be wise, accept not the cheap or the trite;
forget to always turn the other cheek -
lest an explosion within you incite;
hard places contain the fortune you seek.