A fossil's sad beauty often belies
And disaffirms the calamity of a cataclysm.
The miracle and the upshot--
Preserving something that otherwise
Would not be around today,
A misadventure, a pure mischance,
A quick and thorough deluge,
And, by happenstance, some lowly
Organism, a stem, a bit of bone,
Was covered quickly, and unbeknownst to everyone
And everything, the inundation
And the flux reduced it all
Until the great production.
The curtains go up and there it is--
Petrified viability,
And yet more interesting to me
And more valuable
Than a diamond.

-jenn