What remains …

An impression of a trace of a relic
A skull – a drawing – a plate, a print

Whose remains?
a single bone dug out of the salty desert
defines a new (lost) species.

Glaciers scour the land – retreat
Seas fall and rise
Cultures too
Invade – retreat – colonize
Mine – extract – and fill – landfill
Plough – plant – harvest
Fertilize – exterminate
Re-form – deform …

What will remain?

Receding echoes
Fossil footprints in the ancient mud
A cryptic message in the sand
A ripple in the flood