Archaeology

The way you think,

The way you speak,

The way you walk,

The way you love,

The way you pray,

The way you sleep,

The way you wake.

Why stop walking

The seven hills,

The streets below

To hear the talk

That will decay.

So much ground

To cover, so much

To excavate,

Identify.

Be glad now

You started young,

You did not waste

Time waiting

For permission,

Learning rules

Quick to vanish.

What was the tool

Of choice,

Why trouble

To rouse the dead

Only to know

What happened

Was devoured

By mountains.

Dreams do keep

A body sleeping.

Is that you still

Digging, brushing,

Going back over

To uncover

What’s never lost


(6 January 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander