Stones in the Mud

Every sin laid upon me, left its stone.
 Each dream denied, buried deep, is a stone.

Unkept promises haunt, their weight cold stones.
 I walk, hunched by forgotten oaths, their stones.

Suffered wounds unseen, each bruise casts a stone.
 Given pain returned sharper, molds its stone.

The choirs refused my ears each hymn, a stone.
 Heaven closed; its silence bequeaths me stones.

Mud clings to my steps, the ground spawns stones.
 The self is prison, walled in jagged stones.

Under skies, burdened breath, life begged for stones.
 I build ruin. To endure is to move these stones.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

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Smith  Avatar
August 21, 2026 at 10:48 PM
A stark, compelling ghazal in which the repeated stones become an accumulating emblem of guilt, grief, pain, and endurance. The closing line is particularly resonant: survival itself becomes the hard, continual work of moving what weighs the spirit down.
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