The Cretaceous Pearl Poem by michele fermanis

The Cretaceous Pearl

One million years ago
warm oceans swamp the land
a shimmering tidal sea
immense and filled with life

motes of sand disturb
the comfort of a shell
the giant clam, now extinct
with dinosaurs and reptile fish

soft crust to mammoth sphere
while silt and clay transform
from mass to hard sandstone
these rocks begin to rise

creeks and rivers shrink
filtered through exposed bedrock
held under by the force of time-
buried, lost and now unearthed

prized gem and fossil find.