Hard to Find, Easy to Miss

By Arianna Delmastro

On the beaches are smooth stones with fossils trapped inside
The stones fit in my hand
And in the stone fits 541 million years of geologic history–
541 million years fitting in a hand
The way profound things often can

Children on the beaches build sandcastles lined with seashells–
Shells that used to be homes,
That one day might be fossils inside of stones,
And they’ll fit into hands like they do now,
Only they’ll be bigger,
Because there’s nothing special about a shell until something fills it–
Nothing special about bone until it’s surrounded–
Until some geological event– some horrible or wonderful catastrophe– alters it
(Something like a mass extinction, or love)

For a fossil to form, the calcium must be pressed into the ground,
Held firmly, warmly, in the precise way that lets it integrate slowly with the rock.
Millions of years later, if everything remains [just right],
It will fit inside a stone–
A stone that can fit inside a hand
The way I fit into Us / The way profound things often can