The Weight of Stones

Stein Vecht. Poems carry
more weight in a land
of stones and water,
where fences of rock
are familiar as sheep;
where life is forever
the breaking of stone:
obstinate tree roots crack
granite as water works
its own path through stone.

In Vestby a wall
built by stonemasons,
block by immense block
near the town centre,
chiselled with runic symbols:
the unsmiling stone
transformed, animated by art.
Also here in stone
the words of Arne Ruste --
poems to withstand rain and sun,
wind and snow, religions,
politics and disease,
petty disputes over property
and watercourses,
words light as lycra
and strong as stone
freed with rain and and wind,
yet held firm,
full of water and warmth
and the weight of time.