These flat pink sedimentary stones
that I place in this curving path
form a jigsaw puzzle born millennia ago
in the bottom of an alien sea,
gathered from a quarry and stacked
on a pallet a few years ago
so I could solve the story told
in its long slow dream.
Between the long serpentine edges
that I have nailed to the ground,
and on top of the gray stone dust
that I have shoveled and raked level,
I study shape and color, thickness,
and pattern; I observe the waiting
oblong almost triangular space,
then flick my eyes back at the stack
and the pieces I have dropped onto the lawn
comparing over and over until I find
the possibly perfect fit. The story unfolds
around my garden as I have discovered it
and translated it anew for generations
to awaken and relive.
