MONOLITHS OF THE NIGHT


Huge structures hover in the distance.
You move across the dark terrain
and approach slowly with careful steps.
When you are below their pedestals you look upwards
and absorb the totality of their massive size.
You go beyond and see others
standing at equidistant points
dominating the area around them.
You proceed to still others.
Each statue stares off into the distance
in possession of some infinite essence
unknown to mere mortals of the earth.
Each disanthropomorphic entity stands
in its own conundrum symbolizing
something in the broad, unpeopled plain.
You wander in isolation, hour after hour
and come to a confrontation with uncertainty
in the ineffable symbolism of their mystery.


           Arnold Skemer