Fossil

I have never seen stars like these,
winding into the sinews of the ravine –
I remember when the crack opened, it was
the day after the last of the earthquakes
that rendered the green land tar-brown
and barren

The ground still heaves and shoves
but the air is iced with points of light
as if we have started to mine the sky
for remote fossils – they have been fuel
for our dreams and vain wishes
since the first breath.

I can remember yellowed sodium, white
LED glare, blue screen glow. Birds sang
all night, bats flew off course. We
couldn’t sleep; our thoughts disrupted,
our every function measured, recorded.
We forgot to look up.

Now we stare down, wary of cracks.
Now, from the depths, I look up.
There is beauty in this desolation.
This is something beyond measure.

I have never seen stars.