The Lovers' Stone Quarry

author's note:

Why do old abandoned places have such mystery?

Maybe the mystery was always there.  We just didn’t feel it until all went quiet.


THE LOVERS' STONE QUARRY

After the machines
abandoned this quarry
the gray rains of winter
filled the granite pit
with cloudy-white water.

Now, near twilight
on an August day
a solitary couple
sneaks down the hill
to swim--to splash--to yell
in the sun’s splintered rays.

But in time the two
arrive at their quiet
and shyly open
to a deep embrace

then as cool wet skin
meets cool wet skin
both discover warmth
in the anxious heart of the other.

Discretion prohibits me
from finishing this scene
but before I endv I want to share a question:

if the massive complex
we humans have created
eventually collapses
under all its heady weight
what might life be like in the ruins?

My hope is:

those who remain
will find a new way of life
in the jagged pit we blasted.

Soultime: a novel
© 2021, Michael R. Patton