Did you ever stop to think,
or instead did you just keep going
while you thought?

The stones on the pathway
have it right:  stay still, they insist,
stay still!  

Zero out the movement.
Let all else hurtle along.
Turtle yourself up and think,

or feel.  Sense something
and allow it voice.
Stay still!

There is so much to learn,
so much to know — for instance,
think about the skin that rocks develop

between their innards
and those who’d break them.
Armor so thick it seems to go

all the way through, and that’s
the point.  They stay still and
integrated top to bottom, inside

to out.  Stop completely and think about it…
feel that growing hardness, that reluctance 
to get back into the rapids?  Progress.

Even if you fall back in now, all you’ll be is wet,
not bent or broken. It would take centuries at the least
to change you now.