ePick Poem / by Brian Kunde

ePick Poem
by Brian Kunde

Muse, sing of the swing—
The great arc, up, and back;
The straining of the thews
As they take the weight aloft
And then surge it forward,
Down to the cracking face
Of the grey slate stone!

Sing the crash and the crack,
The splitting of the rock!
Sing the implement up,
Back, forward, down—again!
The break against the boulder,
Crumbling the divine pressing
Of ages that made the mass!

Sand to sand, to gravel;
Gravel to gravel, to pebble;
Pebble to pebble, to rock—
Eternity has pressed them,
’Neath the tons of sediment,
Compressing, fusing together,
Into the floor of a continent!

Now the Man, risen up,
Has forged iron in the fire;
Drawn out the long blade;
Bound it to the solid handle
Carved from one great branch!
Behold, he wields the Pick
That undoes the work of eons!

Up and back! Forward, down!
Rising and falling, I split the rock!
Witness, Muse, what Man may do!
Dust at its birth; to dust returned;
The tremendous doing undone,
And the great making unmade!
One rock down. A trillion to go.

* * * * *

ePick Poem

from Unadulterated Delights : Poems, 1st ed., Jul. 2016.

1st web edition posted 1/10/2017.