Ammonite Poem by Paul Reed

Mounted in a plastic case
Absorbing dull modern light
Lay a tiny ribbed coil of stone
The ancient ammonite;

How you held fast to your shape
Imprinted as ancient rocks piled
Through the dinosaur and ice ages
Under glaciers and seas that were wild;

Unmoved by evolution's urge
By roar of fire and gulf of flood
By cavemen and stone circles
By battle and spill of blood;

As coal and oily layers formed
As woods grew spelks and thorny burrs
You stayed exactly the same
For a hundred million years

Now, my friend, your resting place
Is in your little plastic case
Where your form still proudly coils
Despite time's haggard face