an important rock

before we were immense and solid,

in some epoch and eras ago

before time counted,

you and i were plain matter

clear flat rumblings of the underneath

of all that would be.

then fiery rush,  forward flow

cascade and cool and on that one summer day

in a dusty space, woven curtains drawn, yellowed dim with no glare

it was sudden and familiar:

a deep plume opened and

we were.   a dark and fine grained thing

in some brave flooded basin, rearranging mantle.

aboriginal.

jet in a high golden desert

fast among wind tossed brush

banks towering over the rise and run of a snaking river and

we had no idea:

we could shatter we could ablate we could be rubbed to small

and then away

this science of forces was the frail underlie

of our separate everlastings.

the aweless are not careful.

ancient stacks rounded down

settled apart,

we are the color of faded straw.

but induration is not temporary and here is the proof:  far away,

you see me in the sea floor and in the curve of your cheekbone

when you look in a mirror.   i see you in fertile fields

and the flour dusting my hands.

remember this:  we burst forth sharply and with commotion

and confusion and

lived burnlessly brilliantly, and glowing.

we were substantial.

remember this:  in the cold lava flow of us and

in that space in you, in that space in me

where now only God is

we are blessed.