Dark Rock

Dark Rock
 
 
“I was rock, dark rock
and the parting was violent,
a gash of an alien birth:”
 
            Pablo Neruda
            Stones of the Sky XXIII
 
I live in deep flashes
            in the belly of the opal –
The stone cursed,
            that carries curses,
                        that bestows curses.
I flash and find myself
            abandoned, but beautiful;
                        cold and alone.
Light returns to Light,
            flees across the spaces of atoms,
                        launches across time --
Eternal, even if it seems imprisoned
            caged in a cabochon,
            tiny and unremarkable.

I have to make a confession.  I am in love with opal.  My dad used to carve cabachons of opal and tiger eye and malachite.  My favorite was always the opal. There are legends about opal --- about how opal is unlucky and can bring curses on the wearer.  This was so prevalent in Victorian times, that most women would not wear it.  When beautiful opal deposits in Austrailia were discovered, along with the advent of the Arts and Crafts Movement (part of which was Art Nouveau), the use of "semi-precious stones" became very popular in jewelry and crafts. There is a legend in Austrailia that aborigine lovers from two different tribes wanted to marry -- against the wishes of the tribal leaders.  They decided to be together anyway, but the tribes pursued them.  The two lovers ran so fast that they became black opal and the light in the opal is the fire of their love. I love opal beyond any other stone -- it is much more interesting than diamond, which, though they sparkle are really colorless.