Stone People

 

Rain, on stone

like teardrops, sent

to wash away

uncried pain

_________________

*Photo by Tine Berge, taken "one beautiful rainy day" in Oslo.

*A reader has kindly pointed out to me that it looks more like a nose drop than a rain drop.  That's only because it was caught in the act, so to speak, the only rain drop visible when this particular photograph was taken.  Where it landed should be irrelevant. It's still "rain, on stone".   But it still looks like a statue with a runny nose.  I saw it as a metaphor, however, for people who have difficulty expressing pain--or anything at all.  People unable to speak, or sing, or cry.  Like stone statues.  Hence the title Stone People.   

On second thought, without the photo, the poem makes no sense.   Poems that need visuals, to "explain" their intention, should rethink themselves.  With or without visual accompaniment, we all see different things in the wording of a poem.  I think now this couldn't be classified as a real poem.  It's more a mental observation, on associations, pretending to be something it's not.  But I shall leave it, because the stone face in the photograph is magnificent and it "said" something to me, however awkwardly I managed to portray it.  It still does.  Stones that speak, without sound.