Where the Stone Turns to Fire
written by: Jack Ontair
I am no sage. I am no wiser than the sky.
I’m just a sunset-painted horseman.
I sit this mount called ‘Life’ for now, but not for long.
Come the rising night, I must dismount Life forever.
My name is ‘Transience’. I encompass opposites.
Today I am with you. But I am a wind.
Yet, I will shave my bones into your blood
to make you strong.
I will cut your shoes from my heart
to guard your journey.
I will string your music with my sinews
that your spirit forever has a song.
I will lay me down for you, Mei Li,
that you shall rise.
I want to drink rain and drought in every cup we share.
I want to make love as lightning crashes to each side.
I want to walk with you as One
in the dueling shadows of two volcanoes,
and I want the peace that rises up
from the union of our selves.
Mei Li. Oh, Mei Li. I want the peace.
My life. Oh, my life,
can you see to far horizons?
Tell me now what’s the scope of truth?
I must know before I pass by if the light I see out there –
beyond the field of good and evil —
is the dawn or the dusk.
Yet, how does truth compare to love?
Out beyond that far horizon,
are the two the same?
Mei Li, you have pulled me with your love back to life.
That’s all now that matters — in the end,
that is everything I need to trust and know.
I will meet you, Mei Li, on Tava Mountain,
where the stone turns to fire at sunrise.
I will meet you, Mei Li, at the head of the trail
that climbs beyond the opposites and lies.
I will meet you, Mei Li, on Tava Mountain,
where the storms gather their strength to ignite.
I will meet you, Mei Li, on the trail in the dawn
when the only things on it live and die wild.
I will meet you, Mei Li, on Tava Mountain,
on the trail that climbs to where it gets real.
- Where the Stone Turns to Fire - January 9, 2021
