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While
walking the creek yesterday, I found a boulder that had broken off from the cliff
face. On top of the exposed rock was a beautiful fossil.
It was the largest
fossil I’ve ever found. I would say about 12X12 inches.
It covered the entire
top of the rock which was about the size of an old stylye TV set.
The
fossil looked to be a shell of some creature, maybe a Trilobite.
It was rounded
with little ridges. Parts were colored orange from iron deposits in the rock.
That color added to its beauty.
The rock was white shale or Austin Chalk
and very brittle, but the fossil was perfectly encased. The boulder that had fallen
from the cliff had now exposed the fossil. I wondered about the discovery.
How
long had it slept entombed inside the cliff?
10,000 years? A million?
Now
the fossil lay in the creek bed. waiting for some random passerby like myself
to find it and marvel at it. Finding a fossil always makes you feel important.
Like a new Columbus, a discoverer of something unknown.
The ancient relic
begs our reverence.
The thrill is in the finding.
I left it alone.
I did not want to disturb it, wake it from its sleep.
After all, it had lasted
all this time and as such earned respect.
Let the waters cool it, the sun shine
on it.
It deserves tender treatment now, having outlasted eons.
It will
outlast all of us.
© d.knape
November 30, 2012
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"Once Upon A Line" - Light verse and poetry by d.knape
Related Topics: Columns | Texas
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