<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><br><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Stone</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Go inside a stone </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That would be my way.</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Let somebody else become a dove</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">I am happy to be a stone</span><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">.</span></span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From the outside the stone is a riddle:</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No one knows how to answer it.</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yet within, it must be cool and quiet</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even though a cow steps on it full weight,</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even though a child throws it in the river;</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed</span><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">,</span></span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To the river bottom</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Where the fishes come to knock on it</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And listen.</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have seen sparks fly out</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When two stones are rubbed,</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Perhaps there is a moon shining </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From somewhere, as though behind a hill -</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just enough light to make out </span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The strange writings, the star-charts</span></p><p class="s4" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 112px;"><span class="s3" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the inner walls.</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p class="s5" style="text-indent: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s6" style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Charles Simic</span></span></p>All the suffering in the world comes from seeking pleasure for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from seeking happiness for others.<div> - Shantideva </div></div></body></html>