No pebbles in a stream

Laying under the waterbed, so small

Rippling through the world, flowing with the current 

Each journey taken together yet alone, uniquely shaping

Water flows without you, sun shines, and rains fall without your command

This life is yours

Inevitable hopelessness fills the pool; how many choices are yours?

Intersecting journeys pushing and pulling this way and that while we respond

Is this life, pebbles in a stream

Understand with what begins, motion follows

Is this us, collective followers

Like pebbles tumbling along the river of destiny set by higher forces

There is but one recourse to shift the sands, conscious thought 

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in The Precipice, Camille’s third contemporary poetry collection. No pebbles in a stream reflects on the tension between fate and agency — considering how individual lives are shaped by larger currents, yet still altered by the awakening force of conscious thought.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.