H) Paeleozoic

Paeleozoic

Resting in the palm of the hills' hand
I consider a prehistoric gobstopper:

a bivalve rock, fat like a quail egg, sieved
from the bottom of this sunny, cold, bowl,

its shell as delicate as the day it first gaped
and sifted, its smile petrified: an old, old smirk.

I could not pocket it for you,
not allowed to add ballast to your sock drawer,

to add weight to my words;
so I let it fall amongst its brothers and sisters in stone,

left it to the whispers of its bed.
Here is its imprint,

where it rested
in the shallow mud of my mind