Eternity
By Neil McKinnon
Away in the north there is a rock.
It is a thousand miles wide
and a thousand miles long.
It stands a thousand miles tall.
Once every thousand years a small bird
comes to sharpen its beak.
When the rock has thus been worn away,
one day of eternity has passed.
Far to the south there is a lake.
It is a thousand miles wide
and a thousand miles long.
Its depth is a thousand fathoms.
Once every thousand years a small bird
comes to drink.
When the lake has thus been emptied,
one day of eternity has passed.
Away in the west there is a desert.
It is a thousand miles wide
and a thousand miles long.
Its sands a thousand miles deep.
Once every thousand years a small bird
brings a seed.
When the desert is thus a garden,
one day of eternity has passed.
Far to the east there is a forest.
It is a thousand miles wide
and a thousand miles long.
Each acre bears a thousand trees.
Once every thousand years a small bird
comes to nest.
When each tree has thus been shelter,
one day of eternity has passed.
Nearby a small bird gasps,
its song grows faint.
When it has thus been silenced,
all of eternity has passed.
(Inspired by a phrase in The Story of Mankind by Hendrik van Loon who used the analogy of a bird wearing a rock away, by sharpening its beak, to describe the passage of a long period of time.)
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