go inside a stone

"Stone"

Charles Simic

Go inside a stone

That would be my way.

Let somebody else become a dove

Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.

I am happy to be a stone.

From the outside the stone is a riddle:

No one knows how to answer it.

Yet within, it must be cool and quiet

Even though a cow steps on it full weight,

Even though a child throws it in a river;

The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed

To the river bottom

Where the fishes come to knock on it

And listen.

I have seen sparks fly out

When two stones are rubbed,

So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;

Perhaps there is a moon shining

From somewhere, as though behind a hill--

Just enough light to make out

The strange writings, the star-charts

On the inner walls.

There is something so incredibly peaceful about this poem. Kind of just fulfilles my fantasy of just getting away. If stepped into a stone or became a stone, i would no longer be bothered by daily issues. I could be free to roam. I just keep reading it over and over. To me there are a few different ways to analyze what it means and how it can mean to a certain person. I'm not going to say. Better to have a different interpretation each time.