Monadnock

Science Sonnets

It roughly means “a hill that stands alone”
In Abenaki. This is what you find
When hard-configured rock gets left behind
On weather-sanded plains of softer stone.
The metaphor is pretty hard to miss:
Some people are too obstinate to fall
And wind and rain don’t bother them at all.
The Germans have another word for this:
They call it “inselberg.” It would be good
Outlasting everybody with the sheer
Insistence on declaring, “I’m still here.”
You’d be a pure monadnock if you could
Forget about your near and dear departed
And make a point of being granite-hearted.

—Henry Rathvon