Placed By These Hands

-Placed By These Hands-
by Keaton Foster



In a creek
Deep
There is a rock
A stone
Placed
By these hands alone
Twenty plus years ago
Back before I knew
Back when I cared
In a time
When I so dared
I wanted to believe
I was damn sure
That regardless of time
Despite any weathering
In opposition to the current
That it would always be there
Just where I had placed it
Just as I had left it
I went back
Stepping in my tracks
Knowing the way
Through the light woods
Into the deepening forest
Way past any homes
Way past anywhere shown
A few dozen miles and then some
Far past stands of maples
Far past every giant oak
Out beyond the hills
Out beyond the mountains
In the depths of a valley
A place existing
In the shadow of the sun
In the darkness
Of everything created
The water there still runs
The path carved is unchanged
The direction still remains
Easily I found the spot
Easily I knew where I was
Such a place and ideal
Is meant to be kept
I reached down deep
Into the frigid water
Into the slow moving essence
Of all that really matters
It did not take long
To find the rock
My stone
Placed
By these hands alone
So long ago
I removed it from the water
Holding it in my hand
I studied each and every detail
Every color, curve, and ridge
Transferred through my skin
What exactly had changed
Will with me always remain
When I was done
When I was confident
Of what it all meant
I placed the rock
My stone
Back where it belongs
I’m sure that some day
Maybe a lifetime from now
That I’ll come back
But until then
I’ll leave it be
As it was meant
I made my way
Back to the world
The one that I’m part of
The lesson’s I’ve learned
From what it means
To make such a journey
And the connection
To that rock
That stone
Placed
By these hands alone
Once again
Could never be expressed
Something’s I know
Without question
Are meant to be kept
It’s just the way it is
The way it has to be
It was placed by these hands
And it will be honored by this heart
It represents an idea
Of something greater
Something never meant
To be changed
Something to return to
When the need
Again comes true…



Placed By These Hands
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2014.