Phyllis Beveridge Nissila

Why the Stones Will Praise

I say to you, that, if these shall be silent, the stones will cry out!

Though comes a morning undefined,

pale of sun and dull of shine,

what soars and flows seems moth and mud,

broken wing and brackish flood,

in the day of rock and rime;

though comes a noon of restless mobs,

clanging cymbals, sounding gongs,

assailing ears til close of gates,

shuttered windows, loaded freights,

in the day of stone and clod;

though comes an eve when rest still waits,

peace illudes and sight abates,

when sounds the day in silent rooms,

echoing strife, gathering gloom,

in the day of coal and slate–

then comes the night to blanket day

in a firmament array

of brilliant globes and shimmering suns

that tell us whence all clay doth come

and why the stones will praise!

~~~~~

Verse: Luke 19:40

Image of stony creek source