Yungang Grottoes

Can you hear
the ethereal silence
sculpted into yellow rock.
Caves are set within clouds
and careful relief
covers stone. My footsteps

fade. He steps
inside, hears
camera’s click, relief
filling his lens. Silence
surrounds carved clouds
roiling and rocking

gently in stone-inspired breeze. Rock
uneven beneath my heavy steps:
sallow sky veiled with petrol clouds
that cannot hear
echoes or silence
or find relief

from irrevocable decay. Scarred relief
stares back from perforated rock.
Stone buddhas sit in silence;
our footsteps
are heard
dispersing clouds.

Shadows cloud
my eyes. I am relieved
to hear
nothing. Yellow earth dusts rocks,
the soles of your feet. Your shuffling steps
erase winter’s chilled silence.

The ensuing silence
breaks into puffed breaths like small clouds
trailing after footsteps
and fading relief.
He disappears behind another rock.
I stand here

hear the underside of silence
carved immobile into rock. A sigh clouds
the air; relief clings to your fading footsteps.