Fossils

By Steven Wade Veatch

Mammoth bones,
petrified trees,
insects trapped in amber,
pine pollen, a moss spore,
impressions in paper-thin shale,
stony steps of a dinosaur trail.

Just fragments of time,
puzzling pieces, vestiges
in layered ground:
A kingdom come,
a realm now gone,
past worlds in stone.

Fossil branches of the Florissant redwood, Sequoia affinis. 
Specimen FLFO-4858 from the collection
of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. 
Image date Oct 2003 by S. Veatch.

October 12th is National Fossil Day!