Deep Time
There are oceans in the ridges
near our house.
Ripple marks and sand slips
set in stone. The long weathering
of the world exposed them
and eventually will wear them down.
A thought experiment: first, a knife.
The thought precedes the word,
as in the fable god brought his works
to Adam to be named. The thought
empowered by the word sets us apart.
The knife must be steel, dealer of death,
master of armies. It must be sharp.
Man the destroyer – mastery of
death sets us apart.
Take up the knife, carefully.
Observe the delicate grip
of forefinger and thumb.
No other primate can do this.
This clever hand sets us apart.
Now to the hills.
No other creature walks like this.
But we are not
well made for it.
We have to learn it
and in old age our backs ache and fail
from the burden of a lifetime
we are not perfectly adapted for.
At the summit kneel
on rock, the sand
of three-billion-year-old seas.
Take the knife and press down hard.
Try to make a scratch.
Brush away the dust.
Look at the blade:
it’s blunt.
Our experiment is done.
We have made
the brief human expedition through
the landscape of deep time.
Copyright © Norman Baines | Year Posted 2016
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