Rock on!
Was it wind or just the season?
Why you fell there was a reason,
I could ponder on forever -
as to what it could have been.
Laying still through eons passing,
hardened silicates amassing,
carbon forming in your veins -
since the rains of Miocene.
Yet one day you were laid bare,
from your sedimentary layer,
prized possession, new obsession,
for a boy just turning ten.
Mother asked,
“What’s that you’ve got son?”
“It’s a leaf within a rock, Mom!”
Dug it from the river mud and
it’s a fossil you’re aware!”
It was like winning the lottery the day I dug up a fossilized leaf. After showing it at school, I was told by my grade 3 teacher I should become an “Archaeologist,” which was actually incorrect I later learned in university as archaeology studies the remains of civilized activity whereas paleontology deals with ancient flora and fauna. I decided to study both thanks to that leaf.
