1. Standing atop the riverbank
Oblivious to the events of fate

2. Meeting his night without dread
Greeting his dawn without tidings

3. If you see him silent, you'd think
He intends to speak but is made of rock

4. Like a mass of darkness when
The night grows dim and the moon shines

5. His height has reached the sky
With the birds striving below

6. The trees wrap around him, shortened
About him like captives round a guard

7. As if he stands preserving
Sands that glisten like ashes

8. Entranced forever in his place
Despite the passage of centuries and times

9. And if life wore him down for a while
It would shorten his broad lifetime