A Fossil Haiku

 

Archaeopteryx

A dinosaur with feathers

Transition to flight

Haiku poetry about Archaeopteryx lithographica,
the famous dinosaur with wings and feathers.
Found in the Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone of southern Germany,
Archaeopteryx is a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds.
 Watercolor pencil drawing by Steven Wade Veatch.

A Message Through Time

By Steven Wade Veatch

Mammoths, sabertoothed cats, and cave bears
once ruled this place. When people first came,
they lived here in rock shelters, floored 
with packed dirt, below smoke-blackened ceilings.
On canyon walls—splashed with desert varnish—
they carved and pecked designs, symbols, 
people and animals: A message through time.

This site awakens my senses as my mind 
conjures vivid images of ancient people 
moving, swaying, dancing in the warm glow 
of a crackling campfire while casting shadows 
on the smooth canyon wall. 
They send a message through time.

I think about these ancient people 
who have faded into the dry desert air
and try to understand their
message through time.

Message in Stone

 By Steven Wade Veatch

Those who are gone once came to this sacred place
of remote canyon walls filled with quiet grace.
They made circles of stones to pray and to fast,
to seek a vision for guidance and join with the past.

Here, seekers waited for their spirit guide to appear
who came in many forms to give strength and end fear.
The seekers knew this place where others once prayed
and had visions of power as long as they stayed.

They left sacred images to last on cosmic red rocks:
Dancers, flute players, lizards, and birds left as pecked pocks.
An eternal art on canyon walls of symbols, visions, and more 
Left behind from those who came here before.

Now the clouds grow dark and are messengers of rain,
they bring a breeze scented with sage over the terrain.
An eagle soars as a guardian spirit above the canyon below
over the messages in stone only the ancients truly know.