The Fossil Beds Remember

For Harv Burman
An Elegy

At Florissant, where time is pressed flat
and memory sleeps in pages of paper-thin shale,
a voice moved through ponderosa shade,
steady as the winding trail.
 
Harv Burman walked to the outcrop’s edge,
where an ancient lake once held the sky,
and coaxed the quiet earth to speak
of giant sequoias that turned to stone,
and insects pressed into carbon whispers.
 
He turned fossils into stories, and stories into awe.
Kneeling beside a slab of shale, he waited
for a child to see the leaf imprinted there.
The young grew excited. The old looked on
and remembered how to wonder.
 
Along the trail, where the shadows settle
Deep on the shale and weathered soil,
the warm, clear echo of Harv Burman stays,
woven forever into the place he loved.

The Big Stump, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Photo by S. W. Veatch.

Note: This post carries a quiet grief for our community, for the paleontology community, and for anyone who ever walked the trails of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Harv Burman, a beloved summer seasonal ranger at the Monument for many years, recently passed away. Season after season, Harv returned to the Florissant Fossil Beds, bringing warmth, patience, and an unwavering enthusiasm for discovery to visitors of all ages.